The Senate did ratify it eventually, but with one reservation and six understandings. In fact, the artifact trade was almost encouraged by President Richard M. Nixon and the Republican Party as a way to boost the nation's economy. After ten years of debate among museum workers, politicians and art dealers, Congress decided that new legislation was needed to show the United States' support for other countries' concerns. Although the United States government did not accept it in its entirety, the AAM embraced it and it is considered a basic policy that must be adopted by any good museum. Museums caught buying or trading in illegally-exported goods that are not one of the specific cases outlawed by the government are not doing anything illegal, per se , but they are still shunned by the AAM and lose most of their professional respect.
Museums can take years to recover from the accompanying loss of prestige, visitors and status.
To prevent the museum from dealing in potentially illegal goods, many museums include a code of ethics in their acquisition policy. A code of ethics is a statement explaining what the museum will accept or buy and why. The following is taken directly from the Curator's Code of Ethics from Museum News , March, 1983. Curators must avoid acquiring stolen, illegally exported, or improperly collected specimens. It was passed in response to the outrage felt in the Native American community that Native American skeletons, bones, and funerary artifacts were on display in many museums in the United States.