Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016
PL 114-308 (H.R.6130), enacted 12/16/2016

130 STAT. 1524 
PUBLIC LAW 114–308—DEC. 16, 2016 
Public Law 114–308 
114th Congress 
An Act 
To provide the victims of Holocaust-era persecution and their heirs a fair opportunity 
to recover works of art confiscated or misappropriated by the Nazis. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Holocaust Expropriated Art 
Recovery Act of 2016’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) It is estimated that the Nazis confiscated or otherwise 
misappropriated hundreds of thousands of works of art and 
other property throughout Europe as part of their genocidal 
campaign against the Jewish people and other persecuted 
groups. This has been described as the ‘‘greatest displacement 
of art in human history’’. 
(2) Following World War II, the United States and its 
allies attempted to return the stolen artworks to their countries 
of origin. Despite these efforts, many works of art were never 
reunited with their owners. Some of the art has since been 
discovered in the United States. 
(3) In 1998, the United States convened a conference with 
43 other nations in Washington, DC, known as the Washington 
Conference, which produced Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art. 
One of these principles is that ‘‘steps should be taken expedi-
tiously to achieve a just and fair solution’’ to claims involving 
such art that has not been restituted if the owners or their 
heirs can be identified. 
(4) The same year, Congress enacted the Holocaust Victims 
Redress Act (Public Law 105–158, 112 Stat. 15), which 
expressed the sense of Congress that ‘‘all governments should 
undertake good faith efforts to facilitate the return of private 
and public property, such as works of art, to the rightful owners 
in cases where assets were confiscated from the claimant during 
the period of Nazi rule and there is reasonable proof that 
the claimant is the rightful owner.’’. 
(5) In 2009, the United States participated in a Holocaust 
Era Assets Conference in Prague, Czech Republic, with 45 
other nations. At the conclusion of this conference, the partici-
pating nations issued the Terezin Declaration, which reaffirmed 
the 1998 Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated 
Art and urged all participants ‘‘to ensure that their legal sys-
tems or alternative processes, while taking into account the 
Holocaust 
Expropriated Art 
Recovery Act 
of 2016. 
22 USC 1621 
note. 
Dec. 16, 2016 
[H.R. 6130] 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:27 Jul 08, 2022
Jkt 059194
PO 00002
Frm 00492
Fmt 6580
Sfmt 6581
G:\STATUTES\2016\PT2\59194PT2.001
59194PT2
dkrause on LAP5T8D0R2PROD with DISTILLER
130 STAT. 1525 
PUBLIC LAW 114–308—DEC. 16, 2016 
different legal traditions, facilitate just and fair solutions with 
regard to Nazi-confiscated and looted art, and to make certain 
that claims to recover such art are resolved expeditiously and 
based on the facts and merits of the claims and all the relevant 
documents submitted by all parties.’’. The Declaration also 
urged participants to ‘‘consider all relevant issues when 
applying various legal provisions that may impede the restitu-
tion of art and cultural property, in order to achieve just and 
fair solutions, as well as alternative dispute resolution, where 
appropriate under law.’’. 
(6) Victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs have taken 
legal action in the United States to recover Nazi-confiscated 
art. These lawsuits face significant procedural obstacles partly 
due to State statutes of limitations, which typically bar claims 
within some limited number of years from either the date 
of the loss or the date that the claim should have been discov-
ered. In some cases, this means that the claims expired before 
World War II even ended. (See, e.g., Detroit Institute of Arts 
v. Ullin, No. 06–10333, 2007 WL 1016996 (E.D. Mich. Mar. 
31, 2007).) The unique and horrific circumstances of World 
War II and the Holocaust make statutes of limitations espe-
cially burdensome to the victims and their heirs. Those seeking 
recovery of Nazi-confiscated art must painstakingly piece 
together their cases from a fragmentary historical record rav-
aged by persecution, war, and genocide. This costly process 
often cannot be done within the time constraints imposed by 
existing law. 
(7) Federal legislation is needed because the only court 
that has considered the question held that the Constitution 
prohibits States from making exceptions to their statutes of 
limitations to accommodate claims involving the recovery of 
Nazi-confiscated art. In Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum 
of Art, 592 F.3d 954 (9th Cir. 2009), the United States Court 
of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit invalidated a California law 
that extended the State statute of limitations for claims seeking 
recovery of Holocaust-era artwork. The Court held that the 
law was an unconstitutional infringement of the Federal 
Government’s exclusive authority over foreign affairs, which 
includes the resolution of war-related disputes. In light of this 
precedent, the enactment of a Federal law is necessary to 
ensure that claims to Nazi-confiscated art are adjudicated in 
accordance with United States policy as expressed in the Wash-
ington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, the Holo-
caust Victims Redress Act, and the Terezin Declaration. 
(8) While litigation may be used to resolve claims to recover 
Nazi-confiscated art, it is the sense of Congress that the private 
resolution of claims by parties involved, on the merits and 
through the use of alternative dispute resolution such as medi-
ation panels established for this purpose with the aid of experts 
in provenance research and history, will yield just and fair 
resolutions in a more efficient and predictable manner. 
SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are the following: 
(1) To ensure that laws governing claims to Nazi-con-
fiscated art and other property further United States policy 
as set forth in the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi- 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:27 Jul 08, 2022
Jkt 059194
PO 00002
Frm 00493
Fmt 6580
Sfmt 6581
G:\STATUTES\2016\PT2\59194PT2.001
59194PT2
dkrause on LAP5T8D0R2PROD with DISTILLER
130 STAT. 1526 
PUBLIC LAW 114–308—DEC. 16, 2016 
Confiscated Art, the Holocaust Victims Redress Act, and the 
Terezin Declaration. 
(2) To ensure that claims to artwork and other property 
stolen or misappropriated by the Nazis are not unfairly barred 
by statutes of limitations but are resolved in a just and fair 
manner. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ACTUAL DISCOVERY.—The term ‘‘actual discovery’’ means 
knowledge. 
(2) ARTWORK OR OTHER PROPERTY.—The term ‘‘artwork or 
other property’’ means— 
(A) pictures, paintings, and drawings; 
(B) statuary art and sculpture; 
(C) engravings, prints, lithographs, and works of 
graphic art; 
(D) applied art and original artistic assemblages and 
montages; 
(E) books, archives, musical objects and manuscripts 
(including musical manuscripts and sheets), and sound, 
photographic, and cinematographic archives and mediums; 
and 
(F) sacred and ceremonial objects and Judaica. 
(3) COVERED PERIOD.—The term ‘‘covered period’’ means 
the period beginning on January 1, 1933, and ending on 
December 31, 1945. 
(4) KNOWLEDGE.—The term ‘‘knowledge’’ means having 
actual knowledge of a fact or circumstance or sufficient informa-
tion with regard to a relevant fact or circumstance to amount 
to actual knowledge thereof. 
(5) NAZI
PERSECUTION.—The term ‘‘Nazi persecution’’ 
means any persecution of a specific group of individuals based 
on Nazi ideology by the Government of Germany, its allies 
or agents, members of the Nazi Party, or their agents or associ-
ates, during the covered period. 
SEC. 5. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provision of Fed-
eral or State law or any defense at law relating to the passage 
of time, and except as otherwise provided in this section, a civil 
claim or cause of action against a defendant to recover any artwork 
or other property that was lost during the covered period because 
of Nazi persecution may be commenced not later than 6 years 
after the actual discovery by the claimant or the agent of the 
claimant of— 
(1) the identity and location of the artwork or other prop-
erty; and 
(2) a possessory interest of the claimant in the artwork 
or other property. 
(b) POSSIBLE MISIDENTIFICATION.—For purposes of subsection 
(a)(1), in a case in which the artwork or other property is one 
of a group of substantially similar multiple artworks or other prop-
erty, actual discovery of the identity and location of the artwork 
or other property shall be deemed to occur on the date on which 
there are facts sufficient to form a substantial basis to believe 
that the artwork or other property is the artwork or other property 
that was lost. 
Deadline. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:27 Jul 08, 2022
Jkt 059194
PO 00002
Frm 00494
Fmt 6580
Sfmt 6581
G:\STATUTES\2016\PT2\59194PT2.001
59194PT2
dkrause on LAP5T8D0R2PROD with DISTILLER
130 STAT. 1527 
PUBLIC LAW 114–308—DEC. 16, 2016 
(c) PREEXISTING CLAIMS.—Except as provided in subsection (e), 
a civil claim or cause of action described in subsection (a) shall 
be deemed to have been actually discovered on the date of enactment 
of this Act if— 
(1) before the date of enactment of this Act— 
(A) a claimant had knowledge of the elements set forth 
in subsection (a); and 
(B) the civil claim or cause of action was barred by 
a Federal or State statute of limitations; or 
(2)(A) before the date of enactment of this Act, a claimant 
had knowledge of the elements set forth in subsection (a); 
and 
(B) on the date of enactment of this Act, the civil claim 
or cause of action was not barred by a Federal or State statute 
of limitations. 
(d) APPLICABILITY.—Subsection (a) shall apply to any civil claim 
or cause of action that is— 
(1) pending in any court on the date of enactment of this 
Act, including any civil claim or cause of action that is pending 
on appeal or for which the time to file an appeal has not 
expired; or 
(2) filed during the period beginning on the date of enact-
ment of this Act and ending on December 31, 2026. 
(e) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to any civil 
claim or cause of action barred on the day before the date of 
enactment of this Act by a Federal or State statute of limitations 
if— 
(1) the claimant or a predecessor-in-interest of the claimant 
had knowledge of the elements set forth in subsection (a) on 
or after January 1, 1999; and 
(2) not less than 6 years have passed from the date such 
claimant or predecessor-in-interest acquired such knowledge 
and during which time the civil claim or cause of action was 
not barred by a Federal or State statute of limitations. 
(f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act shall be con-
strued to create a civil claim or cause of action under Federal 
or State law. 
(g) SUNSET.—This Act shall cease to have effect on January 
1, 2027, except that this Act shall continue to apply to any civil 
claim or cause of action described in subsection (a) that is pending 
on January 1, 2027. Any civil claim or cause of action commenced 
on or after that date to recover artwork or other property described 
in this Act shall be subject to any applicable Federal or State 
Time period. 
Time period. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:27 Jul 08, 2022
Jkt 059194
PO 00002
Frm 00495
Fmt 6580
Sfmt 6581
G:\STATUTES\2016\PT2\59194PT2.001
59194PT2
dkrause on LAP5T8D0R2PROD with DISTILLER
130 STAT. 1528 
PUBLIC LAW 114–308—DEC. 16, 2016 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.R. 6130 (S. 2763): 
SENATE REPORTS: No. 114–394 (Comm. on the Judiciary) accompanying S. 2763. 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 162 (2016): 
Dec. 7, considered and passed House. 
Dec. 9, considered and passed Senate. 
statute of limitations or any other Federal or State defense at 
law relating to the passage of time. 
Approved December 16, 2016. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:27 Jul 08, 2022
Jkt 059194
PO 00002
Frm 00496
Fmt 6580
Sfmt 6580
G:\STATUTES\2016\PT2\59194PT2.001
59194PT2
dkrause on LAP5T8D0R2PROD with DISTILLER