.{"id":5860,"date":"2026-01-18T15:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T12:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/?post_type=policy-record&#038;p=5860"},"modified":"2026-01-18T15:45:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T12:45:03","slug":"the-unesco-1970-convention-on-the-means-of-prohibiting-and-preventing-the-illicit-import-export-and-transfer-of-ownership-of-cultural-property-united-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"policy-record","link":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/fr\/policy-record\/the-unesco-1970-convention-on-the-means-of-prohibiting-and-preventing-the-illicit-import-export-and-transfer-of-ownership-of-cultural-property-united-kingdom\/","title":{"rendered":"Convention de l&#039;UNESCO de 1970 concernant les mesures \u00e0 prendre pour interdire et emp\u00eacher l&#039;importation, l&#039;exportation et le transfert de propri\u00e9t\u00e9 illicites des biens culturels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Objectives:<br><\/strong>The UNESCO 1970 Convention establishes a framework for State Parties to prohibit and prevent illicit import, export and transfer of cultural property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><strong>Restitution Measures<\/strong>:<br><\/strong>Article 7 outlines specific restitution procedures: upon diplomatic request from the origin State, another State Party must seize and return stolen cultural property from museums, religious institutions or public monuments within its territory. Key requirements include proper documentation proving the object&#8217;s institutional inventory status, and the requesting State must provide supporting evidence for its claim. Importantly, good faith purchasers or legal title holders are entitled to just compensation from the requesting State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><strong><strong>Framework Limitations<\/strong><\/strong>:<br><\/strong>However, international conventions lack binding legal authority unless ratified by individual member states. This means sovereign nations are not mandated to implement these restitution approaches, significantly limiting the Convention&#8217;s practical enforcement power. The framework&#8217;s effectiveness ultimately depends on voluntary state compliance and domestic legislative implementation rather than international legal obligation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><strong>Declarations and Reservations:<\/strong><br><\/strong>&#8220;(a) the United Kingdom interprets the term \u201ccultural property\u201d as confined to those objects listed in the Annex to Council Regulation (EEC) N\u00b0 3911\/1992 of 9 December 1992, as amended, on the export of cultural goods and in the Annex to Council Directive 1993 \/ EEC of 15 March 1993, as amended, on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State;<br>(b) As between EC member states, the United Kingdom shall apply the relevant EC legislation to the extent that that legislation covers matters to which the Convention applies; and<br>(c) The United Kingdom interprets Article 7(b)(ii) to the effect that it may continue to apply its existing rules on limitation to claims made under this Article for the recovery and return of cultural objects&#8221;<br>[Original : English]<br>(See letter LA\/Depositary\/2002\/31)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":2},"country":[241],"framework-type":[209],"class_list":["post-5860","policy-record","type-policy-record","status-publish","hentry","country-united-kingdom","framework-type-international-frameworks"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/policy-record\/5860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/policy-record"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/policy-record"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=5860"},{"taxonomy":"framework-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/framework-type?post=5860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}