UNESCO Convention 1970

The first pillar is preventive: States compile inventories, create protection services, train their staff and raise public awareness. The second is control: an export certificate accompanies every cultural property that leaves the territory, and the import of property stolen from a museum or a religious or civil institution is prohibited.

The third is restitution: a State party may request the return of cultural property that has been stolen and inventoried, subject to fair compensation for the good-faith acquirer. The costs are borne by the requesting State.

The Convention is a treaty between States: it does not, by itself, create direct obligations for private individuals. It is national implementing laws that punish the trafficker and bind the operator.

That is why the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention, which addresses private law and judges, completes it. And that is why the 2019 OIMAP directives set precise obligations for market operators.

For an operator, the Convention translates into simple rules: export documents, provenance prior to 1970, caution on archaeological property. Approved auction houses now require these elements for the most sensitive lots.

Museums, for their part, have adopted acquisition policies aligned with the Convention and with the ICOM code of ethics. Many have launched provenance research programmes on their collections.