The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 1.0All the law of the art market in one place
OIMAP's legal library brings together 1,850 texts: the three major conventions, the seven directives and their revisions, the recommendations, the national transposition laws of sixty-seven States, models and guides.
Each text comes with a sheet that states its nature, date, version, language and links with other texts. National texts are linked to the directives they transpose.
This page explains how the library is organised, how to search effectively and what the rules of use are.
Legal library in figures
Source: OIMAP Legal Affairs Department.
Organisation and search
The library is organised in four collections: international texts, OIMAP texts, national law and practical tools. Search combines filters (State, theme, type, date, language) and free-text search. Each sheet shows related texts: amendments, implementing texts, case law.
Thematic paths group the essential texts on a subject — diligence, circulation, digital, taxation. They are proposed by the Department and updated at each important development.
Rules of use
The texts in the library are reusable under an open licence. Consolidated versions are working documents: only the official version is authoritative. Each text's sheet gives the link to the official source.
Users are invited to report errors, omissions and missing updates. An erroneous or obsolete national text can have practical consequences for an operator.
Partnerships to enrich the database
The library relies on partners: UNESCO, UNIDROIT, WIPO, several law faculties and bar associations. They provide texts, commentary and translations. Students from ten universities take part each year in enriching the database through supervised placements.
This dynamic maintains broad coverage, even for States whose texts are hard to find online. It makes the library a useful resource well beyond the circle of members.
The four collections
| Collection | Content | Approximate number |
|---|---|---|
| International texts | Conventions and protocols | 330 |
| OIMAP texts | Directives, recommendations, regulations | 410 |
| National law | Transposition laws and related texts | 925 |
| Practical tools | Models, guides, checklists | 185 |
Landmarks
- Creation
A thousand texts.
- National law
Sixty-seven States.
- Thematic paths
Fifteen paths.
- 1,850 texts
Three languages.
Check the date
Free search or thematic path
Free search
Keywords and filters- Flexible
- Precise
- Requires knowing what you are looking for
For a known text.
![Bifolium from a Bible: Initial E[t factum est] with Ezekiel (c. 1290)](/images/bibliotheque/manuscrit/cma135736-s.webp)
Thematic path
Selection by subject- Guided
- Complete
- Less flexible
For discovering a subject.
Finding a text
- Choose
Select the State or the theme.
- Filter
Refine by type and date.
- Open
Read the sheet.
- Check
Compare with the official source.
- Cite
State the version.
What to check in a sheet
A lawyer
« I open the library first of all: it tells me whether I should read an original text, a national law or a recommendation. »
Vocabulary of the library
- Sheet
- Presentation page of a text.
- Thematic path
- Selection of texts on a subject.
- Collection
- Set of documents of the same nature.
- Official source
- Authoritative publication.
Frequently asked questions
Are the texts translated?
Yes, in all three languages for OIMAP texts; depending on availability for national law.
Can I download a text?
Yes, as a PDF.
Can I suggest a text?
Yes, through the contact form.
Where can I see the application decisions?
In the case law.
Useful documents
Contacts
Related pages
Reference textsLegal library, case law and regulatory alerts: everything to find and follow the texts applicable to the art market.›
Case law640 summarised court and arbitration decisions: authenticity, provenance, ownership, good faith, restitution and operators' liability.›
Consolidated textsUp-to-date versions of the main texts applicable to the art market, with dates of entry into force and amendments.›
See the case law
Image credits (16)
- Illuminated Opening Page Titled Laila and Majnun from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami of Ganja, Ja'far Baisunghuri (835 AH/1431–32 CE) — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- Letter Box, Ogata Kōrin (1700s) — Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- Left side of a double-page album folio: Outside a Royal Encampment (recto) and Calligraphy, Persian Verses (verso), Bihzad (c. 1485) — Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- The Judgment of Solomon and Esther before Ahasuerus (pair), Dirk Vellert (c. 1530) — Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- A Manuscript of Five Sections of a Qur'an (18th century) — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- Sweet Melancholy, Joseph-Marie Vien (1756) — Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- Bifolium from a Bible: Initial E[t factum est] with Ezekiel (c. 1290) — Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- The Antechamber of the Palace of Justice, Paris, Charles Meryon (1855) — Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- Leaf from a Missal: The Crucifixion (recto) and Text (verso) (c. 1330–40) — Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- Seal of Doge Michele Steno (reverse) (1400–1409) — Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- Miniature from a Manuscript of the Apocalypse: The War in Heaven (c. 1295) — Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- The Apotheosis of Romulus: Design for a Ceiling, Domenico Maria Canuti (c. 1675–76) — Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- Qur'an Manuscript Folio (800s) — Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- Hours of Queen Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain, Master of the First Prayerbook of Maximillian (c. 1500) — Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- The Victory Banquet: from Battle Scenes of the Quelling of Rebellions in the Western Regions, with Imperial Poems (c. 1765–74; poem dated 1760) — Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 1.0
- Sketches in Belgium and Germany, Volume I: Hall of Justice of the Magistrates du Franc, Bruges, Louis Haghe (1840) — Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 1.0