Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 93/7/EEC on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State"

(2001/C 193/17)

On 22 January 2001 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 133 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 6 April 2001. The rapporteur was Mr Sepi.

At its 381st plenary session (meeting of 25 April 2001), the Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion with 62 votes in favour and one abstention.

1. Gist of the Commission proposal

1.1. Council Regulation (EEC) No 3911/92 on the export of cultural goods and Council Directive 93/7/EEC on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State are measures accompanying the establishment of the single market and aimed at reconciling the fundamental principle of the free movement of cultural goods with the protection of national treasures. The Regulation sets up uniform preventive controls at the Community's external borders which allow the competent authorities in the Member States (Culture and Customs) from which the cultural goods are to be exported to a third country to take account of the interests of the other Member States. The Directive complements this preventive instrument by providing for mechanisms and a procedure for returning national treasures when these have left the territory of a Member State unlawfully.

1.2. For the purposes of delimiting their scope, Regulation (EEC) No 3911/92 and Directive 93/7/EEC set out, in annexes with identical content, categories of cultural objects. These categories are drawn up according to criteria relating to the nature of the goods concerned and their age, to which an economic value was added expressed in ecus. These annexes state that the date for the conversion of values expressed in ecus into national currencies was 1 January 1993.

1.3. Pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97(1) of 17 June 1997 on certain provisions relating to the introduction of the euro, any reference to the ecu in legal instruments became, as from 1 January 1999, a reference to the euro, after conversion at the rate of one to one. Without an amendment to the Annex to Directive 93/7/EEC, and hence to the fixed exchange rate corresponding to the rate in force on 1 January 1993, Member States having the euro as their currency would continue to apply different amounts converted on the basis of the exchange rates of 1993, and not the conversion rates irrevocably fixed on 1 January 1999; this situation would persist as long as the conversion rule remained an integral part of the Directive.

1.4. The last paragraph under heading B of the Annex to Directive 93/7/EEC should therefore be amended so that, as of 1 January 2002, the Member States having the euro as their currency directly apply the values in euro laid down in Community legislation. For the other Member States, which will continue to convert these thresholds into national currencies, an exchange rate should be adopted on a suitable date before 1 January 2002, and provision should be made for those Member States to adapt that rate automatically and periodically in order to compensate for variations in the exchange rate between the national currency and the euro.

1.5. It has emerged that the value 0 (zero) under heading B of the Annex to Directive 93/7/EEC, applicable as the financial threshold for certain categories of cultural objects, was liable to be interpreted in such a way as to jeopardise the effective application of the Directive. Whereas this value 0 (zero) means that goods belonging to the categories in question, whatever their value - even if it is negligible or zero - are to be considered "cultural objects" within the meaning of the Directive, certain authorities have interpreted it in such a way that the cultural object in question has no value at all, thereby depriving those categories of goods of the protection provided for by the Directive.

1.6. The Commission proposal therefore aims to introduce two technical amendments to the Annex to Directive 93/7/EEC, namely:

- to replace the figure 0, which is one of the values set out in heading B, with the text "whatever the value";

- to amend the note at the end of heading B by laying down, for the Member States not participating in EMU, a date for the conversion into national currencies of the values expressed in euro and a periodic adaptation of the amounts in national currencies every two years. The reference date chosen is 31 December 2001, the last day of the period for transition to the euro. For the periodic adaptation every two years, the system chosen follows the model for periodic adaptation laid down by the "public procurement" Directives.

2. General comments

2.1. The Committee welcomes the Commission proposal.

2.2. The Committee agrees that it is appropriate to set 31 December 2001 as the reference date for the conversion into national currencies of the values expressed in euro, for those Member States not participating in EMU.

2.3. In order to avoid any confusion, the Committee also thinks that it is appropriate to replace the figure 0 (zero) with a clearer expression.

Brussels, 25 April 2001.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke Frerichs

(1) OJ L 162, 19.6.1997, p. 1.