Due diligence

Due diligence covers four families of controls: the identity of the parties (who is selling, who is buying, on whose behalf), the provenance of the work (where it comes from, through whose hands it has passed), lawfulness (alerts, export bans, protections) and payment (origin of funds, means used).

Each has its tools: identity documents and registers for the parties, certificates and archives for provenance, BIOP databases and inventories for lawfulness, bank statements and contracts for payment.

Due diligence is graduated. At the basic level, the operator checks identity, consults the BIOP database and obtains the usual supporting documents. At the enhanced level, which applies from €10,000 or for high-risk provenances, they ask for further documents, consult archives and may seek an expert's opinion.

At the exceptional level, reserved for the most sensitive cases (conflict zone, opaque intermediary, abnormal price), the operator may decide to refuse the transaction. The decision must be reasoned and kept on file.

Diligence is the condition of good-faith protection. A buyer who carried out proportionate checks and was nonetheless mistaken is protected by Directive 2019-06 and, in States parties, by the UNIDROIT Convention. One who checked nothing cannot rely on their ignorance.

For operators, diligence is therefore both an obligation and an insurance. A well-kept file is the best defence in the event of a later challenge.