I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3497

To provide for the recovery, restitution, and protection of the cultural heritage 

of Iraq. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2003

Mr. ENGLISH (for himself and Mr. LEACH) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL

To provide for the recovery, restitution, and protection of 

the cultural heritage of Iraq.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Iraq Cultural Heritage 

5 Protection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) cultural property is defined by the 1954 

9 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural 

10 Property in the Event of Armed Conflict as ‘‘mov-
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1 able or immovable property of great importance to 

2 the cultural heritage of every people, such as monu3 ments of architecture, art or history . . .; archae4 ological sites; groups of buildings which, as a whole, 

5 are of historical or artistic interest; works of art; 

6 manuscripts, books and other objects of artistic, his7 torical or archaeological interest; as well as scientific 

8 collections and important collections of books or ar9 chives . . .’’; 

10 (2) the region of present day Iraq (ancient 

11 Mesopotamia), located between the Tigris and Eu12 phrates rivers, is known as the ‘‘Cradle of Civiliza13 tion’’, the birthplace of numerous societies that 

14 moved civilization from prehistory to history, and 

15 the native land of many Biblical and Koranic events; 

16 (3) the cities and rural areas of Iraq are home 

17 to some of the oldest human settlements in the 

18 world as well as more than 10,000 identified archae19 ological sites of cultural and historical importance 

20 and tens of thousands of other unexcavated sites; 

21 (4) Iraq continues to serve as one of the prime 

22 centers of Islamic art and culture; 

23 (5) in the 4th millennium B.C., long before the 

24 emergence of Greek or Roman culture, the Sumerian 

25 culture flourished in the region of present day Iraq, 
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1 inventing the wheel, the first plow, the first ever so2 phisticated irrigation system, the earliest form of 

3 writing (cuneiform), and the first used calendar; 

4 (6) southern Iraq is home to the site of the an5 cient Sumerian city of Uruk, known to many as the 

6 first true civilized city and home to the legendary 

7 King Gilgamesh who built the city’s famous great 

8 wall; 

9 (7) the city of Ur, which flourished in the 3rd 

10 millennium B.C., and is partially excavated but yet 

11 to be completely uncovered, is said to be the birth12 place of Abraham; 

13 (8) Qurna at the junction of the Tigris and Eu14 phrates Rivers is said to be the possible location of 

15 the Garden of Eden; 

16 (9) the city of Ur holds one of the world’s old17 est and most important ziggurats, a high rising tem18 ple of sunbaked and oven baked brick with outside 

19 staircases leading to the shrine on top and associ20 ated temples, partially excavated but yet to be com21 pletely uncovered; 

22 (10) the city of Ur is the location of one of the 

23 greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century, a 

24 cemetery in which ancient Sumerian royalty were 
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1 buried along with their servants and extravagant 

2 treasures; 

3 (11) near the city of Ur is the archaeological 

4 site of Tel Al-Ubaid, where ancient pottery and 

5 sculptures dating back to 4,500 B.C. were un6 earthed; 

7 (12) the Akkadian Empire ruled the region of 

8 present day Iraq in the 3rd millennium B.C. and de9 veloped new systems of weights and measures as 

10 well as some of the highest quality works of art; 

11 (13) the Babylonian people briefly ruled the re12 gion of present day Iraq in the 2nd millennium B.C. 

13 and developed the capital city of Babylon which be14 came the commercial and cultural center of the Mid15 dle East for 2000 years; 

16 (14) the city of Babylon, flourishing from ap17 proximately 1700 to the 6th century B.C., was the 

18 center of operations for historical leaders such as 

19 Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar; 

20 (15) Hammurabi of Babylon promulgated a fa21 mous law code that provided precedents for both the 

22 Biblical Ten Commandments and later legal codes; 

23 (16) Babylon was home to the captive Israelites 

24 in the 6th century B.C. according to the Biblical 

25 book of Second Kings and the location of great ar-
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1 chaeological finds including the Ishtar Gate, an 

2 enormous brick entryway into the ancient city, and 

3 famous as the site of the Hanging Gardens, one of 

4 the Seven Wonders of the World, and the Biblically5 referenced Tower of Babel; 

6 (17) the site of Nippur, approximately 100 

7 miles south of Babylon, has yielded a vast collection 

8 of clay tablets with cuneiform writing, including the 

9 oldest known record of a murder trial, dating back 

10 to 1850 B.C.; 

11 (18) in 762 A.D., the city of Baghdad, founded 

12 under the rule of al-Mansur, the second caliph of the 

13 Abbasid dynasty, was the central commercial, cul14 tural, philosophical, and intellectual capital of the 

15 world during the 9th century and for a time the cen16 ter of an empire that stretched from Central Asia to 

17 Spain; 

18 (19) the city of Baghdad contains the 

19 Kadhimain mosque, the shrines of Abu Hanifa and 

20 Abd al-Qader al-Gailani, and many other medieval 

21 buildings, including other tombs, mosques, minarets,

22 and the 13th century Mustansiriya University (an 

23 Islamic law school); 

24 (20) located sixty miles north of Baghdad is the 

25 Abbasid city of Samarra, the home to the famous 
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1 Great Mosque, as well as the Abu Dalaf mosque 

2 with a spiral minaret, and other important buildings 

3 dating from 800–1200 A.D.; 

4 (21) in the modern city of Samarra, the tombs 

5 of the Tenth and Eleventh Caliphs, as well as the 

6 portal for the return of the Twelfth Caliph, are of 

7 great significance for a major segment of Shi’a 

8 Islam; 

9 (22) the tombs of the Fourth Caliph Ali and his 

10 son Husayn are located in Najaf and Karbala (re11 spectively), which are the two most holy cities of the 

12 Shiite branch of Islam; 

13 (23) located in Iraq’s third largest city, Mosul, 

14 are a Great Mosque, dating from the late 9th or 

15 early 10th century A.D., and nearby an ancient 

16 leaning brick minaret, that is all that is left of an 

17 Ommayad mosque dating from 640 A.D.; 

18 (24) in the city of Mosul is located the site of 

19 the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh, which is ref20 erenced by the Biblical prophet Zephaniah, was the 

21 site of the prophet Jonah’s sermons, and includes 

22 royal Assyrian palaces and more than 20,000 cune23 iform tablets from King Ashurbanipal’s library; 

24 (25) south of the city of Mosul is located the 

25 ancient Assyrian capital of Nimrud, the Biblical 
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1 Calah, site of the best-preserved Assyrian palace, in 

2 which were found rich royal tombs of Assyrian 

3 queens in 1989; 

4 (26) near Mosul are also located the Assyrian 

5 capitals of Ashur and Khorsabad, in which have 

6 been excavated priceless treasures, including colossal 

7 human-headed winged bulls; 

8 (27) the city of Ashur and another capital, Kar 

9 Tukulti Ninurta, across the Tigris have remains of 

10 three palaces and hold great works of art from the 

11 royal Assyrian workshops of the 13th century B.C., 

12 residences of merchants from the 18th century B.C., 

13 and temples built before the 21st century B.C., 

14 many of which have not yet been excavated; 

15 (28) the site of the ancient city of Hatra, lo16 cated west of Mosul, is known as the ‘‘City of the 

17 Sun’’ which holds many archaeological remains, es18 pecially Parthian artifacts, and served as a trade 

19 and military route along the Wadi Tharthar; 

20 (29) located at the site of the Parthian and 

21 later Sassanian capital of Ctesiphon, 20 miles south22 east of Baghdad, are the remains of a gigantic 

23 vaulted hall, the Taq Kisra, which has one of the 

24 largest single-span brick arches in the world and is 

25 extremely fragile; 
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1 (30) it should be recognized that the aforemen2 tioned Iraqi cities and archaeological sites comprise 

3 a representative but not comprehensive list of endan4 gered cultural antiquities; 

5 (31) despite extensive efforts by U.S. and coali6 tion forces to limit damage to archaeological and 

7 cultural sites during Operation Iraqi Freedom, 

8 looting has been widespread in the aftermath of the 

9 military conflict. Thousands of items are reported 

10 missing from the National Museum, the Archives, 

11 Library and the modern art museum in Baghdad, 

12 and large-scale looting has occurred at numerous re13 corded and unrecorded archaeological sites, including 

14 Adab, Umm al-Aqarib, Isin, Larsa, Nippur, 

15 Zabalam, Shuruppak, and Umm al-Hafriyat. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act—

18 (1) the term ‘‘archaeological material of 

19 Iraq’’—

20 (A) means any object or fragment or part 

21 of an object that was first found within the bor22 ders of Iraq and that—

23 (i) was built, manufactured, sculpted, 

24 produced, or written by humans; 

25 (ii) is at least 100 years old; and 
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1 (iii) was discovered as a result of sci2 entific excavation, illegal or clandestine 

3 digging, accidental discovery, or explo4 ration on land or under water; 

5 (B) includes all human and animal skeletal 

6 remains, as well as floral and botanical remains, 

7 that are found in association with archae8 ological material described in subparagraph (A); 

9 and 

10 (C) does not include any coin or coin-like 

11 object that is less than 250 years old; 

12 (2) the term ‘‘coin or coin-like object’’ means 

13 any piece of gold, silver, or other metal or material, 

14 that is—

15 (A) fashioned into a prescribed shape, 

16 weight, or degree of fineness, and 

17 (B) stamped or embellished with a device,

18 by the authority of a government or govern19 mental or quasi-public authority in order that 

20 the piece may circulate as currency; 

21 (3) the term ‘‘cultural material of Iraq’’ means 

22 any object, regardless of age, including manuscripts, 

23 and materials used for traditional or religious cere24 monial purposes, or a fragment or part of an object, 

25 that was, on or after August 2, 1990, in the care 
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1 of Iraq’s cultural or religious institutions and is of 

2 historic, artistic, religious, scientific, or cultural in3 terest. 

4 SEC. 4. IMPORT RESTRICTION. 

5 (a) IMPORT PROHIBITION.—No archaeological mate6 rial of Iraq or cultural material of Iraq that was removed 

7 from Iraq after Executive Order 12722 of August 2, 1990, 

8 was issued may be imported into the United States, unless 

9 the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection of the De10 partment of Homeland Security determines that expor11 tation of the material from Iraq was lawful pursuant to 

12 a valid certification or other documentation issued by the 

13 appropriate governing authority in Iraq certifying that the 

14 exportation of the material was not in violation of the laws 

15 of Iraq. 

16 (b) CUSTOMS ACTION IN ABSENCE OF DOCUMENTA17 TION.—If the consignee of any archaeological material of 

18 Iraq or cultural material of Iraq is unable to present to 

19 the appropriate customs officer at the time of making 

20 entry of such material the certification or other docu21 mentation by the appropriate governing authority in Iraq 

22 required under subsection (a), the customs officer shall de23 tain the material, and shall send it to a bonded warehouse 

24 or store to be held at the risk and expense of the con25 signee, notwithstanding any other provision of law, until 
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1 such certification or other documentation is filed with such 

2 officer. If such certification or other documentation is not 

3 presented within 90 days after the date on which such ma4 terial is detained, or such longer period as may be allowed 

5 by the Secretary of Homeland Security for good cause 

6 shown, the material shall be subject to seizure and for7 feiture.

8 (c) LIFTING OF IMPORT PROHIBITIONS.—The import 

9 prohibitions imposed under this Act on archaeological or 

10 cultural material of Iraq shall cease to be effective with 

11 respect to archaeological or cultural material that is re12 moved from Iraq at the end of the 6-month period begin13 ning on the date on which paragraph 7 of United Nations 

14 Security Council Resolution 1483, adopted on May 22, 

15 2003, ceases to be effective or is suspended pursuant to 

16 a decision of the United Nations Security Council. 

17 SEC. 5. FORFEITURE OF UNLAWFUL IMPORTS. 

18 (a) SEIZURE.—Archaeological material of Iraq or cul19 tural material of Iraq that is imported into the United 

20 States in violation of this Act shall be seized and subject 

21 to forfeiture under the customs laws of the United States. 

22 All provisions of law relating to seizure, forfeiture, and 

23 condemnation for violation of the customs laws shall apply 

24 to seizures and forfeitures under this Act, insofar as those 
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1 provisions of law are applicable to, and not inconsistent 

2 with, the provisions of this Act. 

3 (b) DISPOSITION OF ARTICLES.—Any archaeological 

4 material of Iraq or cultural material of Iraq that is for5 feited to the United States under this Act shall be re6 turned to the country of Iraq. 

7 SEC. 6. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN. 

8 In applying the Tariff Act of 1930 or any other provi9 sion of the customs laws of the United States to an article 

10 that is an object, or fragment of an object, discovered as 

11 a result of scientific excavation, illegal or clandestine 

12 digging, accidental discovery, or exploration on land or 

13 under water, the country of origin of the object or frag14 ment is the country within whose borders, as they exist 

15 at the time the object or fragment is imported, or at16 tempted to be imported, into the United States, the object 

17 or fragment was first discovered or excavated. 

18 SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO CONVENTION ON CULTURAL 

19 PROPERTY IMPLEMENTATION ACT. 

20 (a) DEFINITION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL OR ETHNO21 LOGICAL MATERIAL.—Section 302 of the Convention on 

22 Cultural Property Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 2601) 

23 is amended—

24 (1) in paragraph (2)(i)—
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1 (A) by amending subclause (II) to read as 

2 follows: 

3 ‘‘(II) subject to subclause (IV), is at 

4 least 100 years old’’; and 

5 (B) by inserting after subclause (III) the 

6 following: 

7 ‘‘(IV) in the case of any coin or coin8 like object, is at least 250 years old; and’’; 

9 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through 

10 (11) as paragraphs (4) through (12), respectively; 

11 and 

12 (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(3) The term ‘coin or coin-like object’ means 

15 any piece of gold, silver, or other metal or material, 

16 that is—

17 ‘‘(A) fashioned into a prescribed shape, 

18 weight, or degree of fineness, and 

19 ‘‘(B) stamped or embellished with a device, 

20 by the authority of a government or governmental or 

21 quasi-public authority in order that the piece may 

22 circulate as currency.’’. 

23 (b) EMERGENCY IMPLEMENTATION OF IMPORT RE24 STRICTIONS.—Section 304 of the Convention on Cultural 
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1 Property Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 2603) is amend2 ed—

3 (1) by striking ‘‘State Party’’ each place it ap4 pears and inserting ‘‘country’’; and 

5 (2) in subsection (c)—

6 (A) by striking paragraphs (1) and (2); 

7 and 

8 (B) by striking paragraph (3) and insert9 ing the following: 

10 ‘‘(1) No import restrictions under section 307 

11 may be applied under this section to the archae12 ological or ethnological materials of any country for 

13 more than 10 years after the date on which the no14 tice in the Federal Register imposing such restric15 tions is published. Such 10-year period may be ex16 tended by the President for additional periods if the 

17 President determines that the emergency condition 

18 continues to apply with respect to the archaeological 

19 or ethnological material.’’; and 

20 (B) in paragraph (4)—

21 (i) by redesignating such paragraph 

22 as paragraph (2); and 

23 (ii) by striking ‘‘paragraph (3)’’ and 

24 inserting ‘‘paragraph (1)’’. 
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1 (c) CULTURAL PROPERTY ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—

2 Section 306 of the Convention on Cultural Property Im3 plementation Act (19 U.S.C. 2605) is amended—

4 (1) in subsection (b)(1)—

5 (A) by striking ‘‘eleven’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘thirteen’’; 

7 (B) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

8 ‘‘Two’’ and inserting ‘‘Three’’; and 

9 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(E) One member who shall be an expert 

11 in the field of conservation of archaeological or 

12 ethnological artifacts, sites, or related areas.’’; 

13 (2) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘Six’’ and in14 serting ‘‘Seven’’; 

15 (3) in subsection (f)—

16 (A) by striking paragraph (3) and redesig17 nating paragraphs (4) through (6) as para18 graphs (3) through (5), respectively; and 

19 (B) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated—

20 (i) by striking ‘‘or the implementation 

21 of emergency action under section 304’’; 

22 and 

23 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

24 ‘‘or action’’. 
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1 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Convention 

2 on Cultural Property Implementation Act is amended—

3 (1) in section 302 (19 U.S.C. 2601)—

4 (A) in paragraph (2)—

5 (i) by amending the matter preceding 

6 subparagraph (A) to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘(2) The term ‘archaeological or ethnological 

8 material’ of a State Party or other country means—

9 ’’; and 

10 (ii) in the matter following subpara11 graph (C), by inserting ‘‘or other country’’ 

12 after ‘‘State Party’’; and 

13 (B) in paragraph (8), as redesignated by 

14 subsection (a)(2) of this section, by inserting 

15 ‘‘or another country’’ after ‘‘State Party’’; 

16 (2) in section 305 (19 U.S.C. 2604) in the first 

17 sentence, by striking ‘‘by such action’’ and inserting 

18 ‘‘the country covered by such action’’; 

19 (3) in section 307 (19 U.S.C. 2606)—

20 (A) in subsection (a)—

21 (i) by striking ‘‘the State Party’’ the 

22 first place it appears and inserting ‘‘the 

23 country concerned’’; and 
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1 (ii) by striking ‘‘the State Party’’ each 

2 subsequent place it appears and inserting 

3 ‘‘that country’’; and 

4 (B) in subsections (b) and (c), by striking 

5 ‘‘the State Party’’ each place it appears and in6 serting ‘‘the country concerned’’; 

7 (4) in section 310(b) (19 U.S.C. 2609(b)) by 

8 striking ‘‘State Party’’ each place it appears and in9 serting ‘‘country concerned’’; and 

10 (5) in section 312(2)(C) (19 U.S.C. 

11 2611(2)(C)), by striking ‘‘State Party’’ and insert12 ing ‘‘country’’. 

13 (e) EXTENSION OF AGREEMENTS.—

14 (1) EXTENSION.—Section 303 of the Conven15 tion on Cultural Property Implementation Act (19 

16 U.S.C. 2602) is amended—

17 (A) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘five18 year’’ and inserting ‘‘10-year’’; and 

19 (B) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘five 

20 years’’ and inserting ‘‘10 years’’. 

21 (2) EXISTING AGREEMENTS.—Any agreement 

22 that is entered into under section 303(a) of the Con23 vention on Cultural Property Implementation Act 

24 before the date of enactment of this Act and is in 

25 effect on such date of the enactment, shall be effec-
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1 tive for a period of ten years beginning on the date 

2 on which the agreement entered into force with re3 spect to the United States.

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