Partner international organizations

The agreement with the WCO concerns the control of movements of cultural property at borders. OIMAP provides customs services with lists of flagged works, identification notices and Academy training. In return, customs transmit the seizures that feed the BIOP database.

This cooperation is at the heart of coordinated operations: twenty-three were carried out in 2024 with the national services concerned.

The agreement with Interpol organizes the exchange of police information on thefts and trafficking networks. OIMAP alerts and international police notices complement each other: one specializes in cultural property, the other covers crime as a whole.

Joint exercises make it possible to test the alert chain, from the reporting of a theft to dissemination to the services concerned, within 24 hours for priority reports.

With UNESCO, cooperation rests on the 1970 Convention on illicit transfers of cultural property. The two organizations carry out awareness-raising actions, share their legal analyses and support States preparing a restitution request.

OIMAP contributes its operational expertise: certification, provenance documentation, mediation. UNESCO contributes its normative authority and its network of States Parties.

The agreement with ICOM concerns collection ethics and the training of museum professionals. The two organizations jointly develop teaching materials and red lists of at-risk objects, published in the official languages.

It also facilitates contact with the network of partner museums, described on the Museums page.

Each agreement is signed by the Secretary-General and the head of the partner organization. It is concluded for a fixed, renewable term and comes with an annual action plan assessed at a follow-up meeting.

Exchanges of personal data are strictly regulated and subject to the data protection rules of each party.