WRITTEN QUESTION E-2474/03

by Ingo Friedrich (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(24 July 2003)

Subject: Free internal market

Coin collectors and dealers in Greece and Italy, France and Spain are treated like gunrunners. The free internal market has not yet reached this segment. Acting at national level, individual Member States are seeking US approval for import restrictions.

Is the Commission aware of this situation? What action is the Internal Market Directorate-General taking to guarantee the free movement of goods in relation to antique coins? When will this be achieved? Can individual Member States agree import restrictions with third countries? Does Council Regulation (EEC) No 3911/92(1) of 9 December 1992 on the export of cultural goods apply in this area?

(1) OJ L 395, 31.12.1992, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(15 September 2003)

The Commission has taken note of the situation mentioned by the Honourable Member.

As the guardian of the Treaties, the Commission ensures that the rules are adhered to, including, therefore, Articles 28 and 29 which establish the principle of the free movement of goods.

Works of art in general, including antique coins, are goods which fall within the scope of Articles 28 and 29 of the EC Treaty.

However, in the absence of harmonising rules, the Treaty allows the Member States to retain the right to protect their artistic, historical or archaeological heritage. This is the reason why Article 30 provides for an exception to the free movement of goods based on the protection of national treasures, and thus recognises that Member States have the right to impose limits or bans on cultural goods leaving the national territory when the Member State has decided that these objects form part of its protected cultural heritage.

In the absence of harmonisation, the Member States may then invoke Article 30 of the EC Treaty and have some leeway in deciding which works of art or cultural objects are included under the concept of national treasure. It should be pointed out that the Court of Justice has never had occasion to define this concept.

The adoption of Council Directive 93/7/EEC of 15 March 1993 on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State did not change this situation(1). One of the provisions of this Directive is that a Member State may initiate proceedings, before the competent court in another Member State, with the aim of securing the return of cultural objects which have been unlawfully removed from its territory after 1993.

The Directive only refers to objects which were classified, before or after their unlawful removal from the territory of a Member State, among its national treasures possessing artistic, historic or archaeological value under national legislation, and which fall into one of the categories of cultural objects listed in the Annex to this Directive. This list includes collections of historical, palaeontological, ethnographic or numismatic interest with a value of over EUR 50 000.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) Convention of 1970, which has been ratified by (8 or 9) Member States, only relates to the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property, with illicit trade in cultural objects remaining outside its scope. In accordance with the provisions of this Convention, the State Parties undertake to prohibit, or take the necessary measures to prevent, the import of cultural property which has been stolen from museums, religious institutions or public monuments, or when the cultural patrimony of a State Party is in jeopardy from the pillage of archaeological or ethnological materials.

Council Regulation (EEC) No 3911/92 of 9 December 1992 on the export of cultural goods(2), is not applicable in this context. Its aim, in the context of the internal market, is to ensure the protection of the Member States' cultural goods, by making the export of cultural goods outside the customs territory of the Community subject to the presentation of an export licence issued by a competent authority of the Member State, without prejudice to the measures prohibiting the export of national treasures which the Member States may take under Article 30 of the EC Treaty.

(1) OJ L 74, 27.3.1993. The Annex to this Directive was amended by Directive 96/100/EC of 17 February 1997 (OJ L 60, 1.3.1997) and by Directive 2001/38/EC of 5 June 2001 (OJ L 187, 10.7.2001).

(2) OJ L 395, 31.12.1992.