Seminars for the Americas

North America concentrates sales and private collections, while Latin America is rich in pre-Columbian sites and colonial religious heritage. Objects flow between these two poles, legally or otherwise.

The New York seminars bring buyers, sellers and source-country authorities around the same table.

The recurring themes are due diligence by auction houses, the restitution of pre-Columbian objects, taxation of works of art, the fight against money laundering and museum security. One of the seminars reviews legislative developments in the United States and Canada each year.

One session presents the bilateral restitution agreements already concluded and their practical lessons.

New York auction houses, galleries and fairs play a key role in regulation. The seminars allow them to learn about provenance requirements and to present their verification practices.

Representatives of insurers and conservation experts explain how to document a work before its sale.

One workshop is devoted to cooperation between customs and police services: exchange of alerts, seizure procedures, handover of objects to the authorities of the country of origin. Concrete cases illustrate the delays and obstacles.

The seminar concludes with the possible signing of information-exchange protocols between administrations.

Participation is free for public officials and fee-based, at an indicative rate, for others. The seminars are streamed online and the presentations translated into Spanish.

The recommendations are forwarded to the ministries and to the OIMAP Council, and a regional report is published every year.