US signs Cultural MOU with Egypt

US signs Cultural MOU with Egypt - restricting imports of Egyptian antiquities and helping combat looting and smuggling.

Under the agreement, the United States will impose import restrictions on archaeological material representing Egypt’s cultural heritage dating from 5200 B.C. through 1517 A.D. Restrictions are intended to reduce the incentive for pillage and trafficking and are one of the many ways the United States is fighting the global market in illegal antiquities. The cultural property agreement [was] negotiated by the State Department under U.S. law implementing the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property,

Shockinglt, this is the first MOU between the US with its clunky 1980s selective implementation legislation and a country in the Middle East. Time for legislative change giving wider protection from one of world's largest market countries.

Vignette: Just another antiquity from Egypt seized in US.