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Stolen Works of Art > Conferences and meetings
Minutes
5th International Symposium on Works of Art, Antiques and Cultural Property
Lyon, 29 - 31 October 2002
- Mr DE WITTE, Assistant Director for Europe, Regional & National Police
Services, opened the Symposium and welcomed the participants. He stressed
the importance of close co-operation between member countries and expressed
the determination of the General Secretariat to contribute to a safer world.
- The delegates elected Mr Deklerck, of the Belgian Delegation, to chair
the Symposium and unanimously adopted the agenda.
| 1. GENERAL SECRETARIAT PROGRESS REPORT |
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- Mr JOUANNY, General Secretariat, reported on the General Secretariat's
activities since the 4th International Symposium on Works of Art, Antiques
and Cultural Property, held in Lyon in 1999. He provided an overview on the
direct queries by the member countries on the ASF Works of art database. 95%
of the checks in 2002 were made by European countries, Austria and Germany
being the most frequent users. The total number of checks has been decreasing.
This can partly been explained by the existence of another and more user-friendly
tool, the Interpol CD-ROM.
- The electronic forwarding of information to the General Secretariat is
currently dealt with by a working group on formatted messages in the framework
of Interpol's new telecommunication system I-24/7.
- Mr Jouanny elaborated on the recommendations of the Conference on the Illicit
Traffic in Cultural Property stolen in America, held in Mexico City in 1999
and described the organization of a training course including law enforcement,
customs, and cultural institutions scheduled to take place in Bogota, Colombia
in November 2002. He also introduced Interpol's website under www.interpol.int
and its section dedicated to works of art.
- Mr LABERGE, General Secretariat, presented statistical information on art
thefts covering the last five years and collected from the member countries.
He underlined the fact that a number of countries declared that they did not
compile specific statistics on art theft, that they had no art thefts or simply
did not reply at all.
| 2. CD-ROM AND OTHER TOOLS DEVELOPED
BY THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT |
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- Mr KIND, General Secretariat, presented the tools developed and made a demonstration
of the contents and the functionality of the CD-ROM. Due to its easy use and
its powerful search facilities, the CD-ROM is an efficient means to share
information with the art trade, with professional and cultural institutions
and all law enforcement agencies which do not have access to the ASF database.
In so far, it can be considered as one of the registers on stolen art publicly
available as referred to in the UNIDROIT convention.
- Upon concerns expressed by the SAUDI ARABIAN DELEGATE on the risks of diffusing
information outside law enforcement, he replied that this policy is in accordance
with a valid General Assembly resolution and that experience continuously
showed that a number of stolen cultural goods end up on the legal market.
Moreover, countries that have adopted a very strict information policy do
not achieve better clearance rates for art-related crimes.
- Following suggestions that the CD-ROM should be distributed free of charge,
Mr KIND explained that payment was needed to cover the production costs and
reminded the delegates that the CD-ROM was delivered free of charge to all
Interpol National Central Bureaus and at a special rate for other law enforcement
agencies. The GENERAL SECRETARIAT REPRESENTATIVE stated that, by the very
nature of this tool, there were no reliable figures available on how many
objects had been identified via this tool, but mentioned two cases where his
unit was explicitly informed.
- The REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE ART LOSS REGISTER mentioned that his company
issued a search certificate as a means to trace who has requested a query
on a specific item.
| 3. INTERPOL GLOBAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
24/7 |
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- Mr POLIFKO, General Secretariat's I-24/7 team, introduced Interpol's new
Internet based telecommunication system which, in addition, will enable access
to various databases. It will present advantages in terms of speed and costs
and meet high security standards. Currently, seven countries are testing the
functionality, the roll-out to all the member countries is expected to be
finalized throughout 2003.
| 4. ILLICIT TRAFFIC IN CULTURAL PROPERTY |
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- The ITALIAN DELEGATE described the role of the specialist unit of the Carabinieri
for the protection of cultural heritage. In his country, clear evidence has
been gathered of the involvement of organized crime and various links to drug
trafficking, blackmail, and money laundering activities have been detected.
One money laundering scheme was to artificially raise the value of objects
during an auction, pay with dirty money and re-sell the objects at the higher
prices.
- . Between 1970 and 2001, over 40,000 art thefts involving nearly 700,000
stolen objects were recorded in Italy, about 180,000 of which have been recovered.
In various cases, objects stolen in Italy were transported to Switzerland
and further transferred to other countries, in particular United Kingdom,
United States of America and even Japan and Australia. Based on police experience,
he considered the trafficking in cultural property second in terms of value
after drug trafficking, but precise statistical information was not available.
- The AUSTRIAN DELEGATE informed on the new structure created under the Bundeskriminalamt
(Federal Criminal Police Office) which now also includes the works of art
unit. Art thefts slightly raised on a low level from 145 cases in 2000 to
155 cases in 2001. She presented a case study of the recovery in a Vienna
museum of an ancient Buddha statue stolen in Nepal in February 2002 and currently
waiting for return to its country of origin. Austria regularly carries out
checks of online auctions, but with no spectacular results so far.
- The REPRESENTATIVE OF THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT congratulated the Austrian
delegate for the most regular and most frequent use of the ASF database for
remote checks.
- The CHINESE DELEGATE presented the structures and resources put in place
to protect cultural property in his country. China is particularly suffering
from illicit excavations of ancient tombs. It has been established that cultural
property items often illegally leave the country with Hong Kong, Macao, and
Taiwan as transit areas, the final destinations include i. a. the United Kingdom,
the United States and France. He presented a case where a successful international
co-operation resulted in March 2000 in the seizure by the United States Customs
Service of an ancient marble wall panel sculpture stolen in 1994. He also
stressed the need for appropriate training for police and customs officers.
- The REPRESENTATIVE OF THE MUSEUMS SECURITY NETWORK advised that the Cultural
Heritage Watch, a China based non-governmental organization to fight illicit
trafficking which was funded by the United States, the United Kingdom, and
Netherlands, could be of assistance. He further stated that there were ongoing
rumours that Chinese authorities play a role in the illegal export of cultural
goods and he wondered if the maintenance of the death penalty is considered
as a good basis for international co-operation.
- The CHINESE DELEGATE responded that capital punishment was still foreseen
as a legal sanction in the country's penal code. He informed that a database
for stolen cultural property was under construction and would provide better
chances for the information exchange in the future.
- The REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FRENCH GENDARMERIE mentioned the increasing number
of Chinese artifacts appearing on the French market and asked for clarification
on export regulations. The CHINESE DELEGATE stated that export was prohibited
for objects that fell under the protection law, e.g. ancient objects, but
that it was legal for duplicates. He added that there were still different
regulations in force for Hong Kong and Macao which have a long a free market
tradition, and for the mainland.
- The CYPRIOT DELEGATE stated that his country has also been affected by
the looting of its cultural heritage, in particular following the events of
1974 in the Northern part of the island where various thefts had been committed
from churches and monasteries. A specialist unit to fight art related crime
was set up in 1998. He encouraged other countries to take the necessary steps
to be party of the relevant international conventions for the protection of
cultural heritage.
- The FRENCH DELEGATE, as a police officer posted at the Ministry of Culture,
underlined the close relationship between the said ministry, the curators
of local authorities, the police and the gendarmerie. He presented the prevention
policy adopted, including inventories, measures of conservation and protection,
and security systems which aimed at accumulating obstacles in order to delay
the offenders and increase the opportunities for intervention illustrated
by some examples.
- THE HEAD OF THE FRENCH CENTRAL OFFICE OF CULTURAL GOODS ('Office Central
des Biens Culturels') presented his unit tasked to centralize all information
both from national and international sources related to this crime area, operate
the image database TREIMA and which also included an operational group. He
presented a huge scale investigation involving receivers in Belgium and the
Netherlands who had organized numerous thefts from castles and private residences
in France. Since the dismantlement of this criminal group, these thefts had
decreased by 50%. He cited several cases where criminals with close relations
to gang-type thefts and drug trafficking, but with a lack of knowledge of
the art market, were detected when trying to sell high value paintings. He
also described the case of a thief who, acting alone, had committed 172 thefts
from museums, castles, and art galleries in France and neighbouring countries.
He stated that different legislation on receiving stolen property, in particular
with regard to bona fide acquisition, but also of the code of criminal procedure,
presented considerable obstacles during the investigations.
- The REPRESENTATIVE OF EUROPOL reported that from January 2002, the mandate
of his organization had been extended and crimes against property were now
also one of the priority areas. The first steps to initiate concrete action
were going to be prepared soon.
- The CANADIAN DELEGATE focused on the problems of providing training in
his country due to the long distances involved. He stressed that it was imperative
for police organizations to use the most advanced technologies to enable more
policemen to take advantage of proper training. He then demonstrated a new
method of training developed in his country with the use of the Intranet.
The courses were entirely based on an internal electronic system and the trainees
had remote access from their own office at a convenient time.
- For the REPRESENTATIVE OF THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT, this was a good example
of an innovative practice which contributed to reduce the main obstacles often
encountered: the costs for travel and accommodation and the absence from the
working environment for a certain period.
- The ROMANIAN DELEGATE stated that his country had experienced a tremendous
boom in thefts, plundering, illegal excavations and illicit trafficking of
cultural goods between 1990 and 1995. However, from 1996 onwards, theft figures
had dropped considerably, with the adoption of new laws and regulations, giving
more responsibility for the protection to the actual owners, along with new
structures within the Ministry of Culture, decentralization of activities
related to the prevention, creation of specialist mobile police units in risk
areas, and availability of resources to modernize the protection in museums.
- The DELEGATE OF UNESCO advised that the UNIDROIT convention in its Article
3 Paragraph 2 offered efficient assistance to recover archaeological items
and invited all countries to join that convention.
- The DELEGATE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM representing Interpol London stated
that there was no national unit in her country in charge of fighting art theft,
and so far, no police database was available at national level. THE UNITED
KINGDOM had acceded to the 1970 UNESCO convention and a new law was under
preparation sanctioning those who deal in, import or are in possession of
defined cultural objects knowing or believing that they have been stolen or
illegally excavated from any monument or wreck in violation of the local law.
- The UNITED KINGDOM DELEGATE from the Art and Antique Squad at the Metropolitan
Police reported that various links had been detected between illicit art trafficking,
money laundering, organized crime and terrorism. Almost all thefts in the
London area have been committed from private residences with a decrease in
the number during the last few years. There was, however, clear evidence of
increasing illegal exportation of cultural goods from Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan
and Afghanistan, mainly by air freight, to the London art market. In the last
18 months, approximately 800 objects have been seized, including an Assyrian
marble relief valued at 5 million £ Sterling. He stated that the illegal
entry was facilitated by a lack of well-trained customs officers.
- The REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CUSTOMS DEPARTMENT OF THE SCHIPOL AIRPORT mentioned
a joint initiative of the Dutch Ministries of Culture and Finance resulting
in a videotape containing instructions for the customs how to deal with cultural
goods entering or leaving the Dutch territory.
- The SPANISH DELEGATE reported a major art theft committed from a private
residence in Madrid in August 2001 which was solved due to an excellent international
co-operation with the Swiss, United Kingdom, Colombian and United States police
forces resulting in the recovery of all the stolen objects. He further indicated
an increase of sales of cultural property on the Internet. He stated that
police investigations were affected by the limited information published about
the items and the confidentiality ensured by the legislation. He also noticed
that online platforms have been used to sell fakes and underscored the need
for the police to develop appropriate countermeasures.
- The SWEDISH DELEGATE presented some case studies including the robbery
of three master paintings from the National Museum in Stockholm in December
2000. Three armed offenders executed the robbery, others set two cars on fire
in two near-by street crossings to impede rapid access to the museum by the
police, and escaped from the scene of crime in a small speedboat. The case
turned in a typical art-napping. Whereas the robbery was executed professionally,
the planning and the aftermath were rather amateurish. One painting was finally
recovered in a drug case in 2001. Eleven perpetrators were convicted. The
sentences ranged from 2 to 8 years' imprisonment.
- The SLOVENIAN DELEGATE described the preventive measures adopted in her
country including the registration of historical monuments and movable cultural
goods kept there. An increase of art thefts has been recognized and recently,
several good quality fakes have appeared on the Slovenian market. Repeatedly,
Slovenian police detected works of art originating from offences committed
during the armed conflicts on ex-Yugoslav territory.
- The CROATIAN REPRESENTATIVE from the Ministry of Culture stated that since
1995, the number of art-related crime has continuously decreased in her country
with, in the same period, an increasing clearing rate of up to 50%. This success
can be put down to the reinforced collaboration between the police authorities
and the Ministry of Culture, improved prevention, joint training, adoption
of new legislation, increased international co-operation and the setting up
of a specialized cultural property database with some assistance provided
by the General Secretariat.
- The SPANISH DELEGATE representing the Guardia Civil reported on a successful
international co-operation with the Italian Carabinieri and French police.
The investigations lasted over two years and included numerous transborder
surveillance measures. A total of 27 thefts were finally solved, about 100
works of art identified, 8 offenders arrested and approximately 20 suspects
accused.
- The SWISS DELEGATE stated that the number of art thefts committed in Switzerland
has remained nearly unchanged for several years. He presented important case
studies with international ramifications including a theft of five master
paintings from a Zurich based gallery in 1997 with three of them recovered
in Belgrade last year and the theft of numerous historical watches from a
clockwork museum in Geneva in 2001. He further informed that Switzerland,
as one of the major market countries, had initiated political debates with
a view to joining the 1970 UNESCO convention.
- The REPRESENTATIVE OF THE INTERPOL SUB-REGIONAL BUREAU OF ABIDJAN described
the problems related to the illicit traffic in cultural goods, in particular
from West African countries, illustrated by several cases. Lack of reliable
inventories with photographic documentation, deficient protection, sometimes
unclear ownership, missing or inappropriate legislation, and deficits in co-operation
on both national and international levels often constituted basic obstacles
for restitution. His office has undertaken a survey including the countries
of the region and focusing on the actual crime situation, the availability
of statistics, the legislation in force. He finally underlined the urgent
need of adequate training.
- The REPRESENTATIVE OF THE INTERPOL SUB-REGIONAL BUREAU OF BUENOS AIRES mentioned
the lack of inventories, in particular from churches, and the absence of specialized
police units to deal with art crimes as the main factors impeding a more efficient
co-operation. He underscored the need for appropriate training of all entities
concerned including the police, customs and museums staff, for developing
effective strategies, and highlighted the benefits from recent seminars with
the participation of UNESCO, ICOM and Interpol. He announced a forthcoming
training course scheduled to be held in Bogota, Colombia in November 2002.
| 5. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS |
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- The UNESCO DELEGATE presented two important legal instruments: the 1970
UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import,
Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property and the 1995 UNIDROIT
Convention on the Return of Stolen and Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.
Recently, important market countries such as United Kingdom and Japan joined
the UNESCO convention and brought the number of signatory states to 95.
- The UNIDROIT convention offers new legal provisions for illegally exported
objects and grants the possibility for individuals to bring claims before
a foreign court. He clarified that the UNIDROIT convention only governed the
physical return of the objects, but not the question of ownership.
- Mr JOUANNY confirmed Interpol's position considering both conventions as
complementary tools. The General Secretariat has been involved in their drafting
and invites all member countries to be party to both conventions in order
to prevent illicit trafficking and to facilitate the return of cultural property.
- The REPRESENTATIVE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION underlined the importance
of the prevention of organized crime. He announced the 2nd workshop for the
prevention of illicit trafficking in cultural goods scheduled to take place
in Brussels in December 2002. The focus will be the networking of existing
databases of stolen cultural property and improved co-operation between police,
customs, the Ministries of Culture, and the private sector.
- The REPRESENTATIVE OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE described the approach his
institution has been pursuing since several years in promoting the dialogue
between the various actors by organizing a series of meetings dedicated to
specific sectors including the police. The action has considerably slowed
down over the last two years because of budgetary restraints. He added that
more attention needs to be attributed to the raising of awareness of the citizens
on the protection of cultural property, on the related legislation and on
the emerging threat of fakes.
- The REPRESENTATIVE OF ICOM (International Council of Museums) explained
the action taken by her organization currently representing a total of 17,000
members worldwide. In 1998, ICOM established a code of ethics for museums
professionals which has been amended recently. Another key issue is prevention.
ICOM has provided assistance to set up inventories, organized different workshops
in Africa and South America and initiated awareness campaigns. Their series
of publications of looted objects has enabled identification and restitution
of several objects from Angkor, Cambodia, from Africa, and Europe. The publication
of the 'Red List' aims to protect certain categories of cultural
goods generally prohibited for exportation.
| 6. PROTECTION OF ARCHAELOGICAL OBJECTS |
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- The UNESCO REPRESENTATIVE presented the Convention on the Protection of
Underwater Cultural Heritage adopted in 2001. Its annex includes the operational
rules with the main principles being the preservation of underwater cultural
heritage at the places where they are and the clear prohibition of their commercial
exploitation. Further details can be found on the UNESCO website.
- The second UNESCO REPRESENTATIVE explained that the Afghan government had
given UNESCO the mandate to co-ordinate all cultural activities in that country.
He cited several cases of losses of historically important numismatic treasures,
but also the complete disappearance of an ivory collection from the Kabul
museum. Traces of the loot have been found in Pakistan, some silver coins
have been melted in the United States, and gold coins have been brought to
Japan. A huge amount of precise information is available and worth being recorded
in a database and also made accessible to the public.
- Mr JOUANNY informed that one week ago, Afghanistan had become a member
of Interpol. As to a possible data entry of cultural property items stolen
in Afghanistan, there are no legal obstacles, but entering several tens of
thousands of objects into the Interpol database and onto its website would
not be possible without funding.
- The REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REGIONAL DIVISION OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS RHÔNE-ALPES
(DRAC) within the French Ministry of Culture introduced the project of a code
of ethics specifically related to archaeology which has been initiated by
ICOM and which involves approximately 140 countries including France. Inter
alia, it obliges the researchers to deliver a scientific publication on the
excavations carried out within a certain timeframe, otherwise the state concerned
would authorize another archaeologist to excavate.
- The ITALIAN DELEGATE reported that under Italian law, archaeological finds
were state property and that consequently, the possession of these objects
was illegal. The practical difficulties in applying legal sanctions lie, however,
in providing evidence of the commission of the presumed crime. Italy therefore
invests a lot of effort in preventive measures such as the inspection of the
terrain including the use of helicopters for surveying land areas and of motor
launches for coastal zones. They try to establish risk charts with digitized
geographic maps for specific endangered zones in order to engage efficient
action against tomb-robbers in a very early stage.
- The SWISS DELEGATE stated that, in spite of the position of his country
as one of the major art markets, there was currently no legislation on a federal
level governing import and export of cultural property. New legislation is,
however, currently debated in connection with the ratification of the 1970
UNESCO Convention. He then provided details of a very successful international
co-operation which already started in 1975 between the Archaeological Institute
in Bern and museums in Malibu, United States and Copenhagen, Denmark. Following
several years of collaboration, finally archaeological finds including fragments,
statuettes and bronze bowls emanating from illegal digs in Southern Italy
have been unified in an exhibition in Bern in 2000 and restituted to Italy
against a long term loan of some of the pieces to the Swiss institute.
| 7. SALE OF CULTURAL PROPERTY THROUGH
THE INTERNET |
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- The REPRESENTATIVE OF EBAY explained that his company was an international
online trading platform for a variety of objects with currently approximately
46 million users worldwide. The company has set up a global trust and safety
department headed by a former prosecutor and assisted by international investigation
teams. He invited law enforcement officers to contact his company in the event
of suspicious items proposed for sale in order to remove them from the site
and to initiate further investigations.
- Mr JOUANNY, General Secretariat, confirmed this statement by a recent experience
where eBay had immediately removed a suspect object from the website even
though in the end, the object could not be identified as stolen.
| 8. NON-POLICE ORGANIZATIONS |
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- The REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ART LOSS REGISTER reported on the services available
through his company. ALR runs a stolen art database currently holding information
of about 130,000 items mainly supplied by the insurance companies. On a contractual
basis with major auction houses, they search approximately 350,000 auction
lots annually and regularly make matches that lead to recovery and restitution.
They have also been engaged by organizers of international art fairs to check
the objects. Searches on the Internet are now becoming major recovery areas.
- The REPRESENTATIVE OF INVALUABLE/TRACE stated that his company was operating
an Internet accessible database with more than 100,000 items. By means of
automatic screening, they check about 3.5 million lots a year from nearly
900 auction houses. They also run a historical database of previous auctions
including the sales prices and a pre-sale database. The latter is an interesting
tool to get information on illegally excavated archaeological objects prior
to an auction sale.
- The REPRESENTATIVE OF THE MUSEUM SECURITY NETWORK described his initiative
of creating, six years ago, an international platform with a view to collecting
and disseminating information on incidents affecting cultural property including
thefts, forgery, illicit excavation, looting during armed conflicts, security
and prevention issues, and matters relating to legislation and law suits in
this domain. He also introduced the Cultural Heritage Watch, an institution
founded in 2000 by a Chinese lawyer, to prevent illegal excavations in that
country. He finally presented the Leyden Network, a co-operation forum of
scholars from 6 European countries and two international organizations, whose
aim was to prevent the looting of the cultural heritage from several regions,
promote the accession to the UNESCO and the UNIDROIT conventions, and develop
ethical standards and practices in the art world
- The REPRESENTATIVES OF THE BELGIAN/LUXEMBURG UNION OF ART DEALERS (UBEMA)
and the FRENCH ASSOCIATION OF ANTIQUE DEALERS AND ART GALLERIES both criticized
the UNIDROIT convention which contained certain requirements to be accomplished
by the art dealers prior to the purchase of cultural goods although the appropriate
means enabling them to actually comply with these duties were not available.
In particular, they mentioned the need for either a unique database containing
all information on stolen cultural property or for an accessible network of
existing databases.
- The UNESCO representative clarified that the consultation of registers
of stolen art was only one of the elements that constituted the proof of due
diligence and that the difficulties encountered were no excuse to neglect
the other requirements, as well.
- The representative of ICOM reminded the art market of the possibility to
create itself appropriate instruments to better help the dealers in this situation.
- Mr NOBLE, Secretary General of the ICPO-Interpol, addressed the participants
in confirming Interpol's commitment to contribute to a safer world. He underscored
that the Organization was currently investing considerable efforts in optimizing
the telecommunication network within the Interpol community. He stressed the
vital importance of international police co-operation in all crime areas as
well as the benefits arising from the corporate relationship with other entities
such as the UNESCO and ICOM. He finally encouraged the delegates to intensify
their professional contacts with the effective use of the Interpol facilities.
 RECOMMENDATION
(1)
The participants of the 5th International Symposium on Works of Art, Cultural
Property and Antiques meeting in Lyon, France from 29 to 31 October 2002:
UNDERSTANDING the benefits from a close co-operation between governmental
and non-governmental organizations at an international level,
ACKNOWLEDGING the value of such co-operation in fighting cultural
property crimes,
AWARE of the apparent lack of co-operation at a national level between
the relevant organizations,
RECOMMEND each member state to facilitate the creation of a forum
to enhance the co-operation of appropriate parties within their own country.
RECOMMENDATION
(2)
RECOGNIZING the increase of cultural property items from illicit archaeological
excavations, appearing on the international art market, with particular concern
to cultural heritage originating from countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq,
Iran, Pakistan, and Egypt,
UNDERSTANDING the difficulties encountered by police and customs services
in identifying the origin of these cultural goods,
AWARE of the need to consult experts to determine the origin of these
objects,
KNOWING that appropriate expertise may only be available in the afore-mentioned
countries,
RECOMMEND UNESCO to establish a list of experts for the different
categories of cultural goods and also to make available the appropriate legislation
pertaining to these countries of origin to all law enforcement officers.
RECOMMENDATION
(3)
CONSIDERING the need to distribute information on stolen cultural
goods to the benefit of all people and organizations concerned,
AWARE of the existence of the tools developed by the General Secretariat
of the ICPO-Interpol to allow for this exchange of information,
RECOMMEND the member countries to communicate more information on
stolen cultural goods to the General Secretariat and to make a maximum use
of the communications tools put at their disposal, in particular the ASF database
and the CD-ROM 'Interpol - Stolen Works of Art'.
RECOMMENDATION
(4)
TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION the importance of the fight against the
theft of and the illicit trafficking in cultural goods,
RECALLING that in its resolution AGN/64/RES/6 adopted in 1995, the
General Assembly of the ICPO-Interpol had reiterated the main elements of
the 1970 UNESCO convention and the 1995 UNIDROIT convention in order to propose
the member countries of the Organization to implement the principles arising
from these texts,
RECOMMEND the Interpol member countries to solicit their competent
authorities to be party to these conventions, if this has not yet been the
case.
RECOMMENDATION
(5)
IN VIEW of the need for the countries to set up inventories of their
public and private collections,
NOTING the importance to disseminate as rapidly and widely as possible
the information on stolen cultural goods,
RECOMMEND the countries:
- to enhance awareness of the owners, holders, and possessors of cultural
goods of the possibility to use the description standard OBJECT ID in order
to establish their inventories, when they do not exist;
- to use the standard OBJECT ID to disseminate the information on stolen
cultural goods.
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