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
Date: 2000-12-22
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: cultural heritage, cultural object, export (EU), heritage protection, third country

C 120 E/182

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

24.4.2001

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 120 E/15)

(Text with EEA relevance)

COM(2000) 844 final (cid:151) 2000/0332(COD)

(Submitted by the Commission on 22 December 2000)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF
THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 95 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of
Committee,

the Economic and Social

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article
251 of the Treaty,

Whereas:

(1) The establishment of Economic and Monetary Union and
the changeover to the euro have an effect on the last
the Annex to Council
paragraph under heading B of
Directive 93/7/EEC (1)
laying down the values, expressed
in ecu, of the cultural goods subject to the application of
the Regulation. This note lays down that the date for the
conversion into national currencies is to be 1 January
1993.

(2) Pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 of 17 June
1997 on certain provisions relating to the introduction of
the euro (2), 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
the Member States
rate in force on 1 January 1993,
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 irre-
vocably fixed on 1 January 1999, and this situation would
persist as long as the conversion rule remained an integral
part of the Directive.

(3) The last paragrah under heading B of

the Annex to
Directive 93/7/EEC should therefore be amended in such
a way that, as from 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
these
Member States, which will continue to convert

(1) OJ L 74, 27.3.1993, p. 74; Directive as amended by Directive
96/100/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L
60, 1.3.1997, p. 59).
(2) OJ L 162, 19.6.1997, p. 1.

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.

the

effective

threshold for

application of

certain categories of

(4) It has emerged that the value 0 (zero) under heading B of
the
the Annex to Directive 93/7/EEC, applicable as
financial
cultural
objects, was liable to be interpreted in such a way as to
jeopardise
the Directive.
Whereas this value 0 (zero) means that goods belonging
to the categories in question, whatever their value (cid:151) even
if it is negligible or zero (cid:151) are to be considered (cid:145)cultural
objects(cid:146) within the meaning of the Directive, certain auth-
orities 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.

(5) To avoid any confusion in this respect, the figure 0 should
be replaced by a clearer expression which leaves no doubt
as to the need to protect the goods in question,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

In the Annex to Directive 93/7/EEC, the text under heading B
is amended as follows:

(1) The title (cid:145)VALUE: 0 (zero)(cid:146) is replaced by:

(cid:145)VALUE:

Whatever the value(cid:146)

(2) The last paragraph, relating to the conversion into national
currencies of the values expressed in ecus, is replaced by
the following text:

Journal

(cid:145)For the Member States which do not have the euro as their
currency, the values expressed in euro in the Annex shall
be converted and expressed in national currencies at the
rate of exchange on 31 December 2001 published in the
Communities.
This
Official
European
of
shall be reviewed
countervalue in national currencies
every two years with effect
from 31 December 2001.
Calculation of
this countervalue shall be based on the
average daily value of those currencies, expressed in euro,
during the twenty-four months ending on the last day of
August preceding the revision which takes effect on 31

the

24.4.2001

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 120 E/183

December. This method of calculation shall be reviewed, on
from the Commission, by the Advisory
a proposal
Committee on Cultural Goods,
in principle two years
after the first application. For each revision, the values
expressed in euro and their countervalues in national
currency shall be published periodically in the Official
Journal of the European Communities in the first days of the
month of November preceding the date on which the
revision takes effect.(cid:146)

Article 2

When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain
a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a
reference on the occasion of
their official publication.
Member States shall determine how such reference is to be
made.

Article 3

This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day
following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Communities.

The Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations
and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this
immediately
Directive by 31 December 2001. They shall
inform the Commission thereof.

Article 4

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.