NEW! DVD replaces CD-ROM for stolen works of art Starting with its first edition in August 2006, Interpol now provides stolen art information on a DVD offering increased storage capacity and enhanced image quality. The DVD holds all information on a single support while maintaining all the user friendly functions of the CD-ROM. It is updated every two months and can be used in English, French and Spanish.

Stolen Works of Art CD-ROM

Crime against cultural property affects all regions of the world. In Europe, the figures are constantly going up and are evidence of criminals' increasing interest in works of art.

Thousands of works of art are stolen every year in countries such as Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Russia and the Czech Republic.

Given this dramatic situation, Interpol is convinced that if the fight against the illicit traffic in works of art is to be effective, information must be circulated as widely as possible. The international stolen works of art notices published by Interpol met these needs, but their circulation was limited and it is now essential to make a wider public aware of the problem.

Article 4(4) of the UNIDROIT Convention of June 1995, provides that 'in determining whether the possessor exercised due diligence, regard shall be had to all the circumstances of the acquisition, including the character of the parties, the price paid, whether the possessor consulted any reasonably accessible register of stolen cultural objects, and any other relevant information and documentation which it could reasonably have obtained, and whether the possessor consulted accessible agencies or took any other step that a reasonable person would have taken in the circumstances'.

On the basis of this Convention, Interpol decided to produce a CD-ROM on Stolen Works of Art. The CD-ROM contains the information which Interpol's member countries have provided to the General Secretariat. They have agreed that this information can be communicated to the public for crime prevention purposes.

The CD-ROM is designed for police and customs services, museums, auction rooms, antique dealers, collectors and art lovers in general, and lists about 31,500 works of art and cultural property items such as paintings, sculptures and tapestries, with search possibilities based on different criteria: title of the work, name of the artist, description of the work or its dimensions and technique used. The CD-ROM is available in English, French and Spanish.

However, the CD-ROM is obviously not a complete database of all the works of art stolen throughout the world. Users should therefore be aware that the CD-ROM is only one of the registers reasonably accessible to the public referred to in the UNIDROIT Convention. The fact that an object being sought does not appear in the DVD does not mean that it has not been stolen.

By promoting its role in the field, Interpol wishes to assist in the fight against traffic in stolen works of art. For this purpose, the CD-ROM allows access to selected police information to those who are involved with the works of art market (antique dealers, museums, auction rooms, collectors, etc.). It is therefore a tool which can be used to identify the works of art and to detect illegal possession.

By using our database, subscribers are, in effect, contributing to Interpol's aim of the prevention and suppression of illicit traffic in works of art and cultural property that form our countries' wealth.

For more information and conditions of subscription, please contact the specialized unit under:

Stolen Works of Art