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►B COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)No 3911/92
of 9 December 1992
on the export of cultural goods
(OJ L 395, 31.12.1992, p. 1)
Corrected by:
►C1 Corrigendum, OJ L 267, 19.10.1996, p. 30 (3911/92)
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COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)No 3911/92
of 9 December 1992
on the export of cultural goods
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, and in particular Article 113 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3),
Whereas, in view of the completion of the internal market, rules on
trade with third countries are needed for the protection of culturalgoods;
Whereas, in the light of the conclusions of the Council meeting on 19
November 1990, it seems necessary to take measures in particular toensure that exports of cultural goods are subject to uniform controls atthe Community’s external borders;
Whereas such a system should require the presentation of a licence
issued by the competent Member State prior to the export of culturalgoods covered by this Regulation; whereas this necessitates a cleardefinition of the scope of such measures and the procedures for theirimplementation; whereas the implementation of the system should be assimple and efficient as possible; whereas a Committee should be set upto assist the Commission in carrying out the responsibilities conferredon it by this Regulation;
Whereas, in view of the considerable experience of the Member States’
authorities in the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1468/81of 19 May 1981 on mutual assistance between the administrativeauthorities of the Member States and cooperation between the latter andthe Commission to ensure the correct application of the law on customsor agricultural matters (
4), the said Regulation should be applied to this
matter;
Whereas the Annex to this Regulation is aimed at making clear the
categories of cultural goods which should be given particular protectionin trade with third countries, but is not intended to prejudice thedefinition, by Member States, of national treasures within the meaningof Article 36 of the Treaty,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Without prejudice to Member States’ powers under Article 36 of the
Treaty, the term ‘cultural goods' shall refer, for the purposes of thisRegulation, to the items listed in the Annex.
(1) OJ No C 53, 28. 2. 1992, p. 8.
(2) OJ No C 176, 13. 7. 1992, p. 31.
(3) OJ No C 223, 31. 8. 1992, p. 10.
(4) OJ No L 144, 2. 6. 1981, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation
(EEC) No 945/87 (OJ No L 90, 2. 4. 1987, p. 3).
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TITLE 1
Export licence
Article 2
1. The export of cultural goods outside the customs territory of the
Community shall be subject to the presentation of an export licence.
2. The export licence shall be issued at the request of the person
concerned:
— by a competent authority of the Member State in whose territory the
cultural object in question was lawfully and definitively located on 1January 1993,
— or, thereafter, by a competent authority of the Member State in
whose territory it is located following either lawful and definitivedispatch from another Member State, or importation from a thirdcountry, or reimportation from a third country after lawful dispatchfrom a Member State to that country.
However, without prejudice to paragraph 4, the Member State which is
competent in accordance with the two indents in the first subparagraph►
C1is authorized not to require export licences ◄for the cultural
goods specified in the first and second indents of category A1 of theAnnex where they are of limited archaeological or scientific interest,and provided that they are not the direct product of excavations, findsand archaeological sites within a Member State, and that their presenceon the market is lawful.
The export licence may be refused, for the purposes of this Regulation,
where the cultural goods in question are covered by legislationprotecting national treasures of artistic, historical or archaeologicalvalue in the Member State concerned.
Where necessary, the authority referred to in the second indent of the
first subparagraph shall enter into contact with the competent authoritiesof the Member State from which the cultural object in question came,and in particular the competent authorities within the meaning ofCouncil Directive 93/…/EEC of … on the return of cultural objectsunlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State (
1).
3. The export licence shall be valid throughout the Community.4. Without prejudice to the provisions of this Article, direct export
from the customs territory of the Community of national treasureshaving artistic, historic or archaeological value which are not culturalgoods within the meaning of this Regulation is subject to the nationallaw of the Member State of export.
Article 3
1. Member States shall furnish the Commission with a list of the
authorities empowered to issue export licences for cultural goods.
2. The Commission shall publish a list of these authorities and any
amendment to that list in the ‘C' series of the Official Journal of the
European Communities .
Article 4
The export licence shall be presented, in support of the export declara-
tion, when the customs export formalities are carried out, at the customsoffice which is competent to accept that declaration.
(1) Not yet adopted at the time of this publication; in accordance with Article
11 below, the present Regulation will enter into force on the third dayfollowing that of publication of the Directive in the Official Journal of the
European Communities .
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Article 5
1. Member States may restrict the number of customs offices
empowered to handle formalities for the export of cultural goods.
2. Member States availing themselves of the option afforded by
paragrah 1 shall inform the Commission of the customs offices dulyempowered.
The Commission shall publish this information in the ‘C' series of the
Official Journal of the European Communities .
TITLE 2
Administrative cooperation
Article 6
For the purposes of implementing this Regulation, the provisions of
Regulation (EEC) No 1468/81, and in particular the provisions on theconfidentiality of information, shall apply mutatis mutandis .
In addition to the cooperation provided for under the first subparagraph,
Member States shall take all necessary steps to establish, in the contextof their mutual relations, cooperation between the customs authoritiesand the competent authorities referred to in Article 4 of Directive93/…/EEC (
1).
TITLE 3
General and final provisions
Article 7
The provisions necessary for the implementation of this Regulation, in
particular those concerning the form to be used (for example, the modeland technical properties) shall be adopted in accordance with the proce-dure laid down in Article 8 (2).
Article 8
1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee composed of
the representatives of the Member States and chaired by the repres-entative of the Commission.
The committee shall examine any matter concerning the implementation
of this Regulation raised by its chairman either on his own initiative orat the request of a representative of a Member State.
2. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the
committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The committee shalldeliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the chairmanmay lay down according to the urgency of the matter, if necessary bytaking a vote.
The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes; in addition, each Member
State shall have the right to ask to have its position recorded in theminutes.
The Commission shall take the utmost account of the opinion delivered
by the committee. It shall inform the committee of the manner in whichits opinion has been taken into account.
Article 9
Each Member State shall determine the penalties to be applied for
infringement of the provisions of this Regulation. The penalties shall besufficient to promote compliance with those provisions.
(1) See footnote to Article 2 (2).
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Article 10
Each Member State shall inform the Commission of the measures taken
pursuant to this Regulation.
The Commission shall pass on this information to the other Member
States.
Every three years the Commission shall present a report to the European
Parliament, the Council and the Economic and Social Committee on theimplementation of this Regulation.
The Council shall review the effectiveness of the Regulation after a
period of application of three years and, acting on a proposal from theCommission, make any necessary adaptations.
In any event, the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission,
shall examine every three years and, whre appropriate, update theamounts indicated in the Annex, on the basis of economic and monetaryindicators in the Community.
Article 11
This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of
publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities ofDirective 93/…/EEC (
1).
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in
all Member States.
(1) The Directive on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from
the territory of a Member State, already referred to in Articles 2 (2) and6, has not yet been adopted at the time of this publication.
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ANNEX
CATEGORIES OF CULTURAL OBJECTS COVERED BY ARTICLE 1
A.1. Archaeological objects more than 100 years old which are the products of:
— excavations and finds on land or under water 9705 00 00
— archaeological sites 9706 00 00— archaelogical collections
2. Elements forming an integral part of artistic, historical or religious monu- 9705 00 00
ments which have been dismembered, of an age exceeding 100 years 9706 00 00
3. Pictures and paintings executed entirely by hand, on any medium and in
any material (
1)9701
4. Mosaics other than those in categories 1 or 2 and drawings executed 6914
entirely by hand, on any medium and in any material (1) 9701
5. Original engravings, prints, serigraphs and lithographs with their respec- Chapter 49
tive plates and original posters (1) 9702 00 00
8442 50 99
6. Original sculptures or statuary and copies produced by the same process as
the original (1), other than those in category 19703 00 00
7. Photographs, films and negatives thereof (1) 3704
370537064911 91 80
8. Incunabula and manuscripts, including maps and musical scores, singly or 9702 00 00
in collections (
1) 9706 00 00
4901 10 004901 99 004904 00 004905 91 004905 99 004906 00 00
9. Books more than 100 years old, singly or in collections 9705 00 00
9706 00 00
10. Printed maps more than 200 years old 9706 00 0011. Archives, and any elements thereof, of any kind or any medium which are 3704
more than 50 years old 3705
3706490149069705 00 009706 00 00
12. (a) Collections (
2) and specimens from zoological, botanical, mineralogical
or anatomical collections;9705 00 00
(b) Collections (2) of historical, palaeontological, ethnographic or numis-
matic interest9705 00 00
13. Means of transport more than 75 years old 9705 00 00
Chapters
86—89
14. Any other antique items not included in categories A.1 to A.13
(a) between 50 and 100 years old:
— toys, games Chapter 95— glassware 7013— articles of goldsmiths’ or silversmiths’ wares 7114
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— furniture Chapter 94
— optical, photographic or cinematographic apparatus Chapter 90— musical instruments Chapter 92— clocks and watches and parts thereof Chapter 91— articles of wood Chapter 44— pottery Chapter 69— tapestries 5805 00 00— carpets Chapter 57— wallpaper 4814— arms Chapter 93
(b) more than 100 years old 9706 00 00
(1) Which are more than 50 years old and do not belong to their originators.
(2) As defined by the Court of Justice in its judgment in Case 252/84, as follows: ‘Collectors’ pieces within the
meaning of heading No 97.05 of the Common Customs Tariff are articles which possess the requisite characteris-tics for inclusion in a collection, that is to say, articles which are relatively rare, are not normally used for theiroriginal purpose, are the subject of special transactions outside the normal trade in similar utility articles and areof high value.'
The cultural objects in categories A.1 to A.14 are covered by this Regulationonly if their value corresponds to, or exceeds, the financial thresholds underB.
B.Financial thresholds applicable to certain cetegories under A (in ecus)
Value: 0 (Zero)
— 1 (Archaeological objects)
— 2 (Dismembered monuments)— 8 (Incunabula and manuscripts)— 11 (Archives)
15000
— 4 (Mosaics and drawings)
— 5 (Engravings)— 7 (Photographs)— 10 (Printed maps)
50000
— 6 (Statuary)
— 9 (Books)— 12 (Collections)— 13 (Means of transport)— 14 (Any other object)
150000
— 3 (Pictures)
The assessment of whether or not the conditions relating to financial value are
fulfilled must be made when an application for an export licence is submitted.The financial value is that of the cultural object in the Member State referred toin Article 2 (2) of the Regulation.
The date for the conversion of values expressed in ecus in the Annex into
national currencies shall be 1 January 1993.