Experiences with Customs Procedure

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The public submissions to the CPAC deliberations over a cultural property MOU with Bulgaria continue to enlighten us about coiney mindsets and concerns. Two of them discuss attitudes to customs procedures. Charles Goergen is flat-out "against import restrictions on coins from any country". He says since coins "were designed as ancient methods of trade", trying to reclaim them is illegal seizure of property" (1933 double eagles come to mind). Not all coins (in the ancient world too) of course really were were "designed" for trade, or long-distance trade, many coins and collectable forms of 'primitive money' had a local circulation. Goergen's main gripe seems to be:

US Customs seized a $450 shipment to me from Spain without any notification. Just disappearing into the customs black hole. The country of origin claiming the cultural property should return the goods and services the coin originally purchased. That would be equitable.

Mr Goergan really wants 2000-year old wheat and salted pork? It would be interesting to know more about this shipment from Spain and why it was seized at the US borders if all the export paperwork was in order.

Of quite a different order was a contribution from Germany. Dr Hubert Lanz is a big-time German coin dealer (Numismatik Lanz München) and President of FENAP - I've blogged about this mysterious organization before. He writes as follows:

Bulgaria is a member of the EU (European Union) therefore the EU regulation for export of cultural property is valid also for Bulgaria. Export licences from any other member state cultural agency are valid in all EU countries. An import restriction from any EU member state would break European legislation. Please read: EC regulations on the import and export of cultural objects Council Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 of 18 December 2008 on the export of cultural goods (previously Council Regulation (EEC) No 3911/92 of 9 December 1992 on the export of cultural goods) and Council Regulation (EC) No 1210/2003 of 7 July 2003 concerning certain specific restrictions on economic and financial relations with Iraq and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2465/96 govern the import and export of cultural objects into and out of the EU’s economic area. These regulations are intended to prevent the illegal import and export of cultural property. Imports and exports in trade with third countries Council Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 of 18 December 2008 on the export of cultural goods is intended to ban the illegal transfer of cultural property from the EU’s economic area to countries that are not EU member states (third countries). It contains provisions on the scope of the regulation, on the definition of protected cultural property, and on competences and procedures. So do not make any separate treaty or agreement with any single EU member state. Regards Dr. Hubert Lanz

Well, oddly enough the whole underlined passage of this text appears to be taken verbatim from this webpage. So basically had Dr Lanz of FENAP given a link to the source of the information, his contribution to the debate would have consisted merely of the statement:

An import restriction from any EU member state would break European legislation. ...So do not make any separate treaty or agreement with any single EU member state.

Now I am at a loss how a firm with as long traditions as the one which Dr Lanz runs can have been exporting coins - presumably worldwide - for such a long period without establishing what the EU legislation on this actually is. How is this possible? Could Dr Lanz please state for the benefit of us all exactly where in EU legislation (name of the act/regulation/ directive, article, paragraph) this is forbidden? While it is true that the EU is about free markets between state members, this does not exclude imposing regulations on certain categories of goods - including cultural property. It simply is not true that an EU state cannot issue its own export licences for cultural property. The UK reserves the right to ignore EU directives on this in the case of excavated archaeological objects (including coins) and there is nothing "illegal" [pace dr Lanz] in that. Indeed the text to which he himself refers (Council Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 of 18 December 2008 on the export of cultural goods) preamble point 4, articles 1 and 2 state quite clearly, "Such a system should require the presentation of a licence issued by the competent Member State prior to the export of cultural goods covered by this Regulation", and that competence is assigned to: "a competent authority of the Member State in whose territory the cultural object in question was lawfully and definitively located on 1 January 1993". This is (art. 2.4) "subject to the national law of the Member State of export". Penalties are also established by individual member states (art. 9). The regulations referring to Dr Lanz' own country areset out in English here: Guidelines for importing and exporting cultural property into and out of Germany A. National rules to protect cultural property against export where is there the evidence in any of this that EU legislation forbids any kind of agreement with Bulgaria concerning the import of cultural property such as archaeological material with or without a Bulgarian export licence?

Until Dr Lanz and his FENAP come up with the actual article of law which he implies exists, and in the absence of any evidence that such a thing exists, we may safely regard this as another of those numismopathetic pull-the-wool-over-everybody's-eyes red herrings.

But Dr Lanz is right, it would save everybody a LOT of time and money if the USA instead of fiddling around with individual member states of this European "common market", would sign a cultural property MOU with the whole of the EU, protecting the cultural property of all the member states from illicit import, export and transfer of ownership at the hands of greedy and unconcerned US dealers and collectors and those who profit from this greed and lack of concern.

Vignette: Dr Hubert Lanz