Stolen Works of Art > Conferences and meetings

Recommendations

The participants of the 3rd meeting of the Interpol Expert Group (IEG) on Stolen Cultural Property, held in Lyon on 7 and 8 March 2006:

ACKNOWLEDGING the crucial role of art market professionals in the trade in cultural objects;

NOTING that litigation in cases of dispute for the return of cultural property to the country of origin may result in a lengthy and expensive process with outcomes depending on the law applied;

EMPHASIZING the need for French and Spanish speaking law enforcement officers beyond the Interpol National Central Bureaus to query the eASF works of art database in their languages;

RECOGNIZING the difficulties for law enforcement agencies to respond to the increasing sale of cultural objects through the Internet;

RECOMMEND THAT:

1. Law enforcement agencies extend their co-operation efforts to art market professionals as valuable partners and sources of information;
   
   
2. States party to relevant international conventions actively implement those conventions, and that all countries review relevant national legislation and strengthen it if necessary;
   
   
3. Private entities and/or States requesting the return of cultural objects consider arbitration, conciliation, mediation or negotiation procedures as alternatives to litigation. Creative solutions, such as long term loans, may present acceptable results for the parties concerned.
   
   
4. the Interpol General Secretariat make the eASF works of art database available as soon as possible in French and Spanish in order to enable its use by law enforcement agencies beyond the Interpol NCBs;
   
   
5. INTERPOL, UNESCO and ICOM develop and disseminate to their respective member countries a common list of basic recommended actions to counter the increasing illicit sale of cultural objects through the Internet;