Stolen Works of Art
Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the role of Interpol in the fight against trafficking in works of art?

Interpol has several important roles:

• Centralisation of information: the Interpol National Central Bureaus send information of an international nature to the General Secretariat. This information is analysed and entered into the specialised database
• Distribution of information: one of the means of fighting against the illicit trade in cultural objects is the rapid distribution of information to law enforcement and to the private sector.
• The organisation of international conferences either at the Organization's headquarters in Lyon or in the member countries. Recently, conferences have been held in Budapest, Hungary in June 1998, on the illicit trade in stolen works of art in Central and Eastern Europe, and in Mexico in December 1999, on the illicit trade in cultural objects in the Americas.
• Close co-operation with the international organisations involved in the fight against the trafficking (UNESCO, Council of Europe, International Council of Museums).

2. How does Interpol send out information

Initially information was sent out on paper. From 1947 to March 2000, at the request of the Member States, the General Secretariat published international notices on stolen works of art. Given new technology, this form of distribution has now ceased.

Since 1972, the General Secretariat has published a special notice on stolen works of art of exceptional value. Until 1986 this notice was called 'The 12 Most Wanted Works of Art' and it was published once a year. In 1987, the design of this notice was totally revised and it is now published in the form of a poster which is regularly published in June and December each year. The poster is now entitled 'The Most Wanted Works of Art' and shows 6 new works of art each time. The poster has been printed in colour since 1998.

The Automated Search Facility (ASF) Works of Art Database

In 1995, the General Secretariat developed a database comprising text and photos of stolen works of art. This database was created by police officers for police officers and is based on a simple visual description of the works of art.

The National Central Bureaus send the information concerning the stolen works of art to the General Secretariat using a form called 'CRIGEN/ART'. The form is available in the 4 working languages of the Organization and is completed by the Interpol member states in the same manner, whatever the language and the culture.

In January 1999, this database was made accessible to the member countries through the computer software "EASYFORM". This software provides access to free text describing the works of art and their photographs. This was a considerable step forward due to the fact that it made information on a stolen work of art available world-wide just 24 hours after being entered into the General Secretariat database. This access is available to the National Central Bureaux who can then decentralise the information to the Police services.

The Interpol Stolen Works of Art CD-Rom

In order to provide information to the private sector on the subject of stolen works of art, the Interpol General Secretariat has produced a CD-Rom on stolen works of art in conjunction with the French company Jouve.

This CD-Rom, available on subscription, is updated every two months. As well as information on works of art which have been stolen or recovered in dubious circumstances, it also contains the international conventions from UNESCO in 1970 and UNIDROIT in 1995, the list of member countries and their contact numbers, the Object ID file developed by the Getty Information Institute (standard description of a work of art) which has been recognised by UNESCO and the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and a list of objects considered at risk.

This CD-Rom is one of the registers which is reasonably accessible to the public, such public access being mentioned in the 1995 UNIDROIT convention. Article 4 §4 of this convention states that 'in determining whether the possessor exercised due diligence, regard shall be had to all the circumstances of the acquisition, including the character of the parties, the price paid, whether the possessor consulted any reasonably accessible register or stolen cultural objects, and any other relevant information and documentation which it could reasonably have obtained, and whether the possessor consulted agencies or took any other step that a reasonable person would have taken in the circumstances'.

3. How many thefts of works of art take place each year in the world? What is the estimated loss?

It is difficult to obtain a clear idea of the number of works of art stolen in the world and it is unlikely that exact statistics will ever exist. The national statistics are often based on the method of theft (theft, breaking and entering, armed theft etc.) rather than on the nature of the stolen objects. It is not possible to estimate the loss to society caused by this phenomenon.

Statistics on stolen of cultural property 1999: Places - Objects

4. Which countries are most affected by this form of criminality?

According to the information contained in the Interpol database (as at June 2000), Italy, France, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Russian Federation, Germany and Belgium are the countries reporting most thefts of cultural objects.

5. Where are the objects stolen from most frequently?

Objects are stolen most frequently from private homes and secondly from churches

6. What method is used most frequently to commit these thefts?

The usual modus operandi is breaking and entering

7. Which objects are stolen the most?

The thieves are interested in all cultural objects, for example paintings, statues, sculptures, furniture, archaeological objects etc. Paintings and sculptures currently account for 50% of the stolen works of art registered in our database.

8. What can be done to fight effectively against this form of criminality?

It is necessary to:

• adopt laws to protect each country's cultural heritage
• ratify the international conventions which protect cultural heritage
• establish inventories of public and private collections with precise descriptions of the objects and colour photographs
• mark cultural objects to facilitate formal identification when recovered.
• lodge a complaint, in case of theft, with the local police force as soon as possible, providing a detailed list and photographs of the stolen objects
• speed up the circulation of information on stolen cultural objects
• make the public more sensitive to the loss of their cultural heritage
• use the universal language database
• train law enforcement and customs to fight against this phenomenon.