CCPIA Section 303(a) (1)

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Experience has shown that US coineys have an extraordinary capacity to misunderstand even written texts in their own language when they contain the regulations which govern their hobby. Nowhere is this more apparent than when something comes up before the CPAC for discussion. I am sure there will be lots to comment on when they start spamming the State depertment with their objections over the proposed Bulgaria MOU, so to make things easier, this is the chunk of text which sets out the ONLY topics the CPAC want to hear from members of the public (and that includes collectors and dealers) on.

SECTION 2602. AGREEMENTS TO IMPLEMENT ARTICLE 9 OF THE CONVENTION
(a) Agreement authority

(1) In general
If the President determines, after request is made to the United States under article 9 of the Convention by any State Party--

(A) that the cultural patrimony of the State Party is in jeopardy from the pillage of archaeological or ethnological materials of the State Party;
(B) that the State Party has taken measures consistent with the Convention to protect its cultural patrimony;
(C) that--

(i) the application of the import restrictions set forth in section 2606 of this title with respect to archaeological or ethnological material of the State Party, if applied in concert with similar restrictions implemented, or to be implemented within a reasonable period of time, by those nations (whether or not State Parties) individually having a significant import trade in such material, would be of substantial benefit in deterring a serious situation of pillage, and
(ii) remedies less drastic than the application of the restrictions set forth in such section are not available; and

(D) that the application of the import restrictions set forth in section 2606 of this title in the particular circumstances is consistent with the general interest of the international community in the interchange of cultural property among nations for scientific, cultural, and educational purposes;

the President may, subject to the provisions of this chapter, take the actions described in paragraph (2).

Now of course the coiney lobby have all sorts of weasel-wordy objections to any restrictions whatsoever being placed on THEM on the basis of their own particular interpretation of this wording. I have discussed these narrow interpretations here more times than I care to remember. I have no doubt they will all be trotted out, by the weak-willed and weak-minded unable to come up with anything else, in the next month or so.

Let it be noted that the "drastic" measures proposed is that dealers and collectors only import into the USA material from Bulgaria which can be documented as having left the country in accordance with the measures set out in the CPIA (the option of two different kinds of pieces of paper). Importing cars, potatoes, poultry products, live tarantulas and a lot of other things into the USA (and other countries) needs certain paperwork to be filled in. The restrictions on the antiquities trade under the proposed MOU are no more "drastic" than what other traders have been doing without a grumble for some decades.

Vignette, Sofia church of Alexander Nevski.