Case law

Three trends emerge. First, judges assess good faith more and more strictly: a professional buyer who has not consulted stolen-property databases is rarely protected. Second, they require a faithful description: a vague reservation is not enough to rule out the authenticity guarantee.

Finally, they pay attention to evidence of provenance: a patchy history weighs against the seller when the gaps coincide with periods of turmoil. These trends inform the recommendations to operators.

Case law does not create a binding rule in most States, but it sheds light on how a judge might read a text. It allows an operator to anticipate a risk and a lawyer to build their argument.

Decisions of the OIMAP Arbitral Tribunal have particular value: they are made by specialists and recognised by Member States. They are published, with the parties' consent, in anonymised form.

Decisions are collected from national courts by the focal points, and from the Arbitral Tribunal by its registry. Each decision is read by a lawyer at the Department, who writes the summary, identifies the points of law and checks anonymisation.

A scientific committee made up of magistrates and academics selects the most instructive decisions to highlight them in the quarterly newsletter. This selection guides operators to the judgments that matter.