1993L0007 — EN — 21.03.1997 — 001.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 93/7/EEC
of 15 March 1993
on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State
(OJ L 74, 27.3.1993, p. 74)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Directive 96/100/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17
February 1997 L 60 59 1.3.1997
NB: This consolidated version contains references to the European unit of account and/or the ecu, which from 1 January 1999
should be understood as references to the euro — Council Regulation (EEC) No 3308/80 (OJ L 345, 20.12.1980, p. 1) andCouncil Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 (OJ L 162, 19.6.1997, p. 1).
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COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 93/7/EEC
of 15 March 1993
on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the
territory of a Member State
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Havingreg ard to the Treaty establishingthe European EconomicCommunity, and in particular Article 100a thereof,
Havingreg ard to the proposal from the Commission(
1),
In cooperation with the European Parliament(2),
Havingreg ard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(3),
Whereas Article 8a of the Treaty provides for the establishment, not
later than 1 January 1993, of the internal market, which is to comprisean area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods,persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the provi-sions of the Treaty;
Whereas, under the terms and within the limits of Article 36 of the
Treaty, Member States will, after 1992, retain the right to define theirnational treasures and to take the necessary measures to protect them inthis area without internal frontiers;
Whereas arrangements should therefore be introduced enabling Member
States to secure the return to their territory of cultural objects which areclassified as national treasures within the meaningof the said Article 36and have been removed from their territory in breach of the abovemen-tioned national measures or of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3911/92of 9 December 1992 on the export of cultural goods (
4); whereas the
implementation of these arrangements should be as simple and efficientas possible; whereas, to facilitate cooperation with regard to return, thescope of the arrangements should be confined to items belonging tocommon categories of cultural object; whereas the Annex to thisDirective is consequently not intended to define objects which rank as‘national treasures' within the meaningof the said Article 36, butmerely categories of object which may be classified as such and mayaccordingly be covered by the return procedure introduced by thisDirective;
Whereas cultural objects classified as national treasures and formingan
integral part of public collections or inventories of ecclesiastical institu-tions but which do not fall within these common categories should alsobe covered by this Directive;
Whereas administrative cooperation should be established between
Member States as regards their national treasures, in close liaison withtheir cooperation in the field of stolen works of art and involvinginparticular the recording, with Interpol and other qualified bodies issuingsimilar lists, of lost, stolen or illegally removed cultural objects formingpart of their national treasures and their public collections;
Whereas the procedure introduced by this Directive is a first step in
establishingcooperation between Member States in this field in thecontext of the internal market; whereas the aim is mutual recognition ofthe relevant national laws; whereas provision should therefore be made,in particular, for the Commission to be assisted by an advisorycommittee;
(1) OJ No C 53, 28. 2. 1992, p. 11, and
OJ No C 172, 8. 7. 1992, p. 7.
(2) OJ No C 176, 13. 7. 1992, p. 129 and
OJ No C 72, 15. 3. 1993.
(3) OJ No C 223, 31. 8. 1992, p. 10.
(4) OJ No L 395, 31. 12. 1992, p. 1.
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Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 3911/92 introduces, together with thisDirective, a Community system to protect Member States’ culturalgoods; whereas the date by which Member States have to comply withthis Directive has to be as close as possible to the date of entry intoforce of that Regulation; whereas, having regard to the nature of theirlegal systems and the scope of the changes to their legislation necessaryto implement this Directive, some Member States will need a longerperiod,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Article 1
For the purposes of this Directive:
1. ‘Cultural object' shall mean an object which:
— is classified, before or after its unlawful removal from the terri-
tory of a Member State, amongthe ‘national treasures possessingartistic, historic or archaeological value' under national legisla-tion or administrative procedures within the meaningof Article36 of the Treaty,
and
— belongs to one of the categories listed in the Annex or does not
belong to one of these categories but forms an integral part of:
— public collections listed in the inventories of museums,
archives or libraries’ conservation collection.
For the purposes of this Directive, ‘public collections' shall
mean collections which are the property of a Member State,local or regional authority within a Member States or aninstitution situated in the territory of a Member State anddefined as public in accordance with the legislation of thatMember State, such institution beingthe property of, orsignificantly financed by, that Member State or a local orregional authority;
— the inventories of ecclesiastical institutions.
2. ‘Unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State' shall
mean:
— removed from the territory of a Member State in breach of its
rules on the protection of national treasures or in breach ofRegulation (EEC) No 3911/92, or
— not returned at the end of a period of lawful temporary removal
or any breach of another condition governing such temporaryremoval.
3. ‘RequestingMember State' shall mean the Member State from
whose territory the cultural object has been unlawfully removed.
4. ‘Requested Member State' shall mean the Member State in whose
territory a cultural object unlawfully removed from the territory ofanother Member State is located.
5. ‘Return'shall mean the physical return of the cultural object to the
territory of the requestingMember State.
6. ‘Possessor' shall mean the person physically holdingthe cultural
object on his own account.
7. ‘Holder'shall mean the person physically holdingthe cultural object
for third parties.
Article 2
Cultural objects which have been unlawfully removed from the territory
of a Member State shall be returned in accordance with the procedureand in the circumstances provided for in this Directive.
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Article 3
Each Member State shall appoint one or more central authorities to
carry out the tasks provided for in this Directive.
Member States shall inform the Commission of all the central authori-
ties they appoint pursuant to this Article.
The Commission shall publish a list of these central authorities and any
changes concerning them in the C series of the Official Journal of the
European Communities .
Article 4
Member States’ central authorities shall cooperate and promote consul-
tation between the Member States’ competent national authorities. Thelatter shall in particular:
1. upon application by the requestingMember State, seek a specified
cultural object which as been unlawfully removed from its territory,identifyingthe possessor and/or holder. The application must includeall information needed to facilitate this search, with particular refer-ence to the actual or presumed location of the object;
2. notify the Member States concerned, where a cultural object is found
in their own territory and there are reasonable grounds for believingthat it has been unlawfully removed from the territory of anotherMember State;
3. enable the competent authorities of the requestingMember State to
check that the object in question is a cultural object, provided thatthe check is made within 2 months of the notification provided for inparagraph 2. If it is not made within the stipulated period, paragraphs4 and 5 shall cease to apply;
4. take any necessary measures, in cooperation with the Member State
concerned, for the physical preservation of the cultural object;
5. prevent, by the necessary interim measures, any action to evade the
return procedure;
6. act as intermediary between the prossessor and/or holder and the
requestingMember State with reg ard to return. To this end, thecompetent authorities of the requested Member States may, withoutprejudice to Article 5, first facilitate the implementation of an arbi-tration procedure, in accordance with the national legislation of therequested State and provided that the requestingState and thepossessor or holder give their formal approval.
Article 5
The requestingMember State may initiate, before the competent court
in the requested Member State, proceedings against the possessor or,failinghim, the holder, with the aim of securingthe return of a culturalobject which has been unlawfully removed from its territory.
Proceedings may be brought only where the document initiating them is
accompanied by:
— a document describingthe object covered by the request and stating
that it is a cultural object,
— a declaration by the competent authorities of the requestingMember
State that the cultural object has been unlawfully removed from itsterritory.
Article 6
The central authority of the requestingMember State shall forthwith
inform the central authority of the requested Member State thatproceedings have been initiated with the aim of securing the return ofthe object in question.
The central authority of the requested Member State shall forthwith
inform the central authorities of the other Member States.
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Article 7
1. Member States shall lay down in their legislation that the return
proceedings provided for in this Directive may not be brought morethan one year after the requestingMember State became aware of thelocation of the cultural object and of the identity of its possessor orholder.
Such proceedings may, at all events, not be brought more than 30 years
after the object was unlawfully removed from the territory of therequestingMember State. However, in the case of objects formingpartof public collections, referred to in Article 1 (1), and ecclesiasticalgoods in the Member States where they are subject to special protectionarrangements under national law, return proceedings shall be subject toa time-limit of 75 years, except in Member States where proceedingsare not subject to a time-limit or in the case of bilateral agreementsbetween Member States layingdown a period exceeding75 years.
2. Return proceedings may not be brought if removal from the
national territory of the requestingMember State is no long er unlawfulat the time when they are to be initiated.
Article 8
Save as otherwise provided in Articles 7 and 13, the competent court
shall order the return of the cultural object in question where it is foundto be a cultural object within the meaningof Article 1 (1) and to havebeen removed unlawfully from national teerritory.
Article 9
Where return of the object is ordered, the competent court in the
requested States shall award the possessor such compensation as itdeems fair accordingto the circumstances of the case, provided that it issatisfied that the possessor exercised due care and attention in acquiringthe object.
The burden of proof shall be governed by the legislation of the
requested Member State.
In the case of a donation or succession, the possessor shall not be in a
more favourable position than the person from whom he acquired theobject by that means.
The requestingMember State shall pay such compensation upon return
of the object.
Article 10
Expenses incurred in implementinga decision orderingthe return of a
cultural object shall be borne by the requestingMember State. The sameapplies to the costs of the measures referred to in Article 4 (4).
Article 11
Payment of the fair compensation and of the expenses referred to in
Articles 9 and 10 respectively shall be without prejudice to therequestingMember State’s rig ht to take action with a view to recov-eringthose amounts from the persons responsible for the unlawfulremoval of the cultural object from its territory.
Article 12
Ownership of the cultural object after return shall be governed by that
law of the requestingMember State.
Article 13
This Directive shall apply only to cultural objects unlawfully removed
from the territory of a Member State on or after 1 January 1993.
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Article 14
1. Each Member State may extend its obligation to return cultural
objects to cover categories of objects other than those listed in theAnnex.
2. Each Member State may apply the arrangements provided for by
this Directive to requests for the return of cultural objects unlawfullyremoved from the territory of other Member States prior to 1 January1993.
Article 15
This Directive shall be without prejudice to any civil or criminal
proceedings that may be brought, under the national laws of theMember States, by the requestingMember State and/or the owner of acultural object that has been stolen.
Article 16
1. Member States shall send the Commission every three years, and
for the first time in February 1996, a report on the application of thisDirective.
2. The Commission shall send the European Parliament, the Council
and the Economic and Social Committee, every three years, a reportreviewingthe application of this Directive.
3. The Council shall review the effectiveness of this Directive after a
period of application of three years and, actingon a proposal from theCommission, make any necessary adaptations.
4. In any event, the Council actingon a proposal from the Commis-
sion, shall examine every three years and, where appropriate, update theamounts indicated in the Annex, on the basis of economic and monetaryindicators in the Community.
Article 17
The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee set up by Article 8
of Regulation (EEC) No 3911/92.
The Committee shall examine any question arisingfrom the application
of the Annex to this Directive which may be tabled by the chairmaneither on his own initiative or at the request of the representative of aMember State.
Article 18
Member States shall bringinto force the laws, reg ulations and adminis-
trative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive within ninemonths of its adoption, except as far as the Kingdom of Belgium, theFederal Republic of Germany and the Kingdom of the Netherlands areconcerned, which must conform to this Directive at the latest twelvemonths from the date of its adoption. They shall forthwith inform theCommission thereof.
When Member States adopt these measures, they shall contain a refer-
ence to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference on theoccasion of their official publication. The methods of makingsuch areference shall be laid down by the Member States.
Article 19
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
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ANNEX
Categories referred to in the second indent of Article 1 (1) to which objects
classified as ‘national treasures' within the meaning of Article 36 of the
Treaty must belong in order to qualify for return under this Directive
A.1. Archaeological objects more than 100 years old which are the products
of:
— land or underwater excavations and finds,
— archaeological sites,— archaeological collections.
2. Elements forming an integral part of artistic, historical or religious monu-
ments which have been dismembered, more than 100 years old.
▼
M1
3. Pictures and paintings, other than those included in Category 3A or 4,
executed entirely by hand on any material and in any medium (1)
3A. Water-colours, gouaches and pastels executed entirely by hand on any
material (1)
4. Mosaics in any material executed entirely by hand, other than those
falling in Categories 1 or 2, and drawings in any medium executedentirely by hand on any material (
1)
▼B
5. Original engravings, prints, serigraphs and lithographs with their respec-
tive plates and original posters (1).
6. Original sculptures or statuary and copies produced by the same process
as the original (1) other than those in category 1.
7. Photographs, films and negatives thereof (1).
8. Incunabula and manuscripts, includingmaps and musical scores, sing ly
or in collections (1).
9. Books more than 100 years old, singly or in collections.
10. Printed maps more than 200 years old.11. Archives and any elements thereof, of any kind, on any medium,
comprisingelements more than 50 years old.
12. (a) Collections (
2) and specimens from zoological, botanical, mineralog-
ical or anatomical collections;
(b) Collections (3) of historical, palaeontological, ethnographic or numis-
matic interest.
13. Means of transport more than 75 years old.14. Any other antique item not included in categorie sA1t oA1 3 , more than
50 years old.
The cultural objects in categories A 1 to A 14 are covered by this Directive
only if their value corresponds to, or exceeds, the financial thresholds underB.
(1) Which are more than fifty years old and do not belongto their orig inators.
(2) As defined by the Court of Justice in its Judgment in Case 252/84, as follows:
‘Collectors' pieces within the meaningof HeadingNo 99.05 of the Common CustomsTariff are articles which possess the requisite characteristics for inclusion in a collec-tion, 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 insimilar utility articles and are of high value.‘
(
3) As defined by the Court of Justice in its Judgment in Case 252/84, as
follows:‘Collectors’ pieces within the meaningof HeadingNo 99.05 of the CommonCustoms Tariff are articles which possess the requisite characteristics for inclusion ina collection, that is to say, articles which are relatively rare, are not normally usedfor their original purpose, are the subject of special transactions outside the normaltrade in similar utility articles and are of high value.'
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B.Financial thresholds applicable to certain categories 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)
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30000
— 3A. (Water colours, gouaches and pastels)
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50000
— 6 (Statuary)
— 9 (Books)— 12 (Collections)— 13 (Means of transport)— 14 (Any other item)
150000
— 3 (Pictures)
The assessment of whether or not the conditions relatingto financial value
are fulfilled must be made when return is requested. The financial value isthat of the object in the requested Member State.
The date for the conversion of the values expressed in ecus in the Annex into
national currencies shall be 1 January 1993.