Dealers Kicking up a Fuss Over EU Regulation for Importing Cultural Goods (2019/880)

The new import licensing regulation for cultural goods (2019/880) comes into force in the EU on June 28, 2025, The art and antiques trade associations have stepped up their campaign to “dilute the worst effects”.

For those not up to date, here is a summary of the Regulation (EU) 2019/880 on the introduction and the import of cultural goods

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?
The regulation sets out the conditions for the introduction of cultural goods, and the conditions and procedures for the import of cultural goods, in order to safeguard humanity’s cultural heritage and prevent the illicit trade in cultural goods, in particular where such trade could contribute to terrorist financing.
It provides for a system of import licences for the most endangered cultural goods and importer statements for other categories of cultural goods. It does not apply to cultural goods which were either created or discovered in the customs territory of the European Union (EU) which are covered by Directive 2014/60/EU (see summary).

KEY POINTS
Cultural goods are defined as any item which is of importance for archaeology, prehistory, history, literature, art or science and belongs to the categories listed in the regulation’s Annex, Part A.

Meanwhile, instead of kicking up an unseemly and revealing fuss, the ADA explains : 'How will the EUs new import licensing for art and antiques affect you? Here's a brief guide' (Jun 19, 2023):

According to the law, relevant items – all of which must have originated from outside the EU – will be split into two types: those that need a full import licence, and those that can be brought in on the basis of an importer statement. What those items are is set out in a series of three tables in the Annex to the legislation, Parts A, B and C. Any attempt to import an item covered by Part A will be prohibited if it is deemed to have been exported illegally from its country of origin, whenever that was.

So who's kicking up a fuss about that? As the summary iterates:

Prohibited goods
The regulation prohibits the introduction into the EU of cultural goods listed in Part A of the Annex, if these have been illicitly removed from the countries where they were created or discovered (the general prohibition rule).

Seems pretty simple and non-controversial to me. What responsible dealer would want to be involved in handling illegally-removed material, itn other words culture crime? ADA then goes on to explain [so, now we are talking about Import licences and importer statements for the import of cultural goods (i.e. their release for free circulation in the internal market other than transit)]:

Items included under Part B are more than 250 years old and seen as being at greater risk of looting and trafficking than those covered by Part C, and so are subject to tighter rules – in other words these are the pieces that need an import licence rather than an importer statement, and no minimum value threshold applies. This means that unless customs tell the importer otherwise, a licence will be required for every individual item, even where they might be identical, low-priced pieces imported together in large groups.

I guess that's an argument for not trying to take part in mass export of antiquities from anywhere. Part B refers to archaeological objects or parts of monuments at least 250 years old, regardless of the value of these objects. "Applicants for a licence will have to demonstrate that the item in question was exported from the country where it was created or discovered in accordance with the laws and regulations of that country at the time (whenever that was – and it could be centuries ago)" and there is the rub. Cowboy dealers in the past could not have cared less about those laws, or working out whether they can show - or be shown by the seller - that any individual item they want to handle (profit from) has been acquired or moved in accordance with those laws.

Because many of these items will have left those countries decades or more beforehand, that proof may no longer survive, if it was ever there in the first place. So, the law provides a third way of qualifying for a licence: evidence that the item in question has been exported in accordance with the laws and regulations of the last country where it was located for an unbroken period of more than five years [...] [but] wasn’t there for temporary use, or was just there in transit, for re-export or transhipment. You must also show that it was exported from the country where it was created or discovered before 24 April 1972 – when the 1970 UNESCO Convention on trafficking of cultural goods first came into effect.

Items covered by Part C needing an importer statement are all individually valued at €18,000 or more per item and are more than 200 years old.

To clarify, Part C of the Annex covers items like zoological or botanical collections, coins, ethnographic objects, paintings, sculptures, manuscripts and books that are older than 200 years and have a value above €18,000. Which, apart from the odd dinosaur skeleton or two and incunabula /Gutemberg Bible or suchlike, is not going to be that many.

The regulation has applied in general since 27 June 2019. The general prohibition rule has applied since 28 December 2020. The obligation to obtain an import licence or submit an importer statement will become applicable when the centralised electronic system for the storage and the exchange of information between EU authorities becomes operational, or from 28 June 2025 at the latest.

The 1970 UNESCO Convention however was written in 1969 and many dealers have been ignoring its implications for them ever since. Time for that to STOP. Stop Taking Our Past.