Which objects are protected under the 1970 UNESCO Convention?
In 2009 the Kingdom of the Netherlands accepted the 1970 UNESCO Convention by means of an Implementation Act: the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (Implementation) Act.
The scope of this Implementation Act is determined by the definition of the cultural property to which it applies. These must be objects of essential importance to the cultural heritage of a state for archaeology, prehistory, history, literature, art or science and which belong to one of the 11 categories of cultural property listed in article 1 of the Convention.
In the Netherlands the definition of cultural property is given in articles 1(a) and 14(a) of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (1984): Cultural property that falls under Dutch protective legislation
- Objects or collections, mainly owned privately, that have been designated as irreplaceable and indispensable according to the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (1984);
- Objects from public collections in institutions such as museums, archives and libraries that are funded by a public body;
- Objects inscribed in the inventories of ecclesiastical institutions;
- Protected historic buildings and monuments and parts thereof;
- Archival materials and elements thereof provided that they are more than 50 years old;
- Unlawfully excavated archaeological objects.
Please contact the Cultural Heritage Inspectorate.
- in case of doubt as to whether or not an object’s origin is lawful,
- if you suspect that a cultural property from the Netherlands has been illegally imported into a Member State,
- if you suspect that a cultural property has been illegally imported into the Netherlands.
Before you do this, please read the information below very carefully. If the answer to all three questions is ‘yes’, then contact the Cultural Heritage Inspectorate.
If not, please contact your national law enforcement agency.
- Does the cultural property belong to a Member State to the 1970 UNESCO Convention?
- Was it illegally exported and imported from a Member State into the Netherlands after 1 July 2009?
- Does the cultural property belong to one of the categories provided for under article 1 of 1970 UNESCO Convention; is it of essential importance, is it designated by the state
Does the object fall under one of the 11 categories of the 1970 Convention? (1)
Is the object significant to one of the areas:
(1) The categories are: