Posted on: July 19, 2018 by Makoto Shimada
On 1st June 2018, the Kokkai, the National Diet of Japan, enacted the Substantial Amendment to the Law for the Protection of Cultural Property. The new Act will come into force on 1st April 2019. Under the 1950 Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties, cultural property with historical or artistic value is selected by the government […]
Posted on: April 27, 2018 by Alexander Herman
The National Gallery of Canada, as reported earlier, had plans to sell one of its two major works by Marc Chagall, La Tour Eiffel, at auction at Christies in New York on 15 May, with an estimate of $6 million to $ 9 million. This led to much uproar in the Canadian press and amongst the […]
Posted on: October 25, 2016 by Alexander Herman
Last week saw the completion of another intake of our Diploma in Law and Collections Management course, which ran from 17 to 21 October. The course, which is geared towards professionals in the museum and gallery sector, covered areas as wide ranging as restitution, cultural heritage laws, mediation, treasure, insurance, copyright and bailment. Guest speakers included Tony […]
Posted on: September 8, 2015 by Alexander Herman
Following up on a post from last year, the five Motunui panels that had been illegally exported from New Zealand back in the 1970s have finally made the journey back to the tribal lands from which they came. The panels have been with the people of the Te Atiawa since March 2015, having been earlier kept at the Te Papa […]
Posted on: September 3, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
Our friends at the Franco-British Lawers Society (England & Wales section) will be hosting a free event in London on 9 October entitled ‘The Art of Advising – Art Law in Practice‘. The event will be held at Notre Dame University, London campus (famous venue for a number of IAL courses and conferences) and will run […]
Posted on: April 29, 2015 by Alexander Herman
Earlier this month, it was reported that Canada was returning a 900-year-old sandstone statue to India. This was done with all the necessary pomp and ceremony, with each nation’s prime minister more than ready for a dual photo op with the piece. Of course it represented much more than mere cultural restitution: as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated, cultural relations between […]
Posted on: April 2, 2015 by Alexander Herman
Last month, the UK government finally responded to the Department for Culture Media & Sport’s consultation regarding changes to the cultural object export licensing system which took place between May and August 2012. The response indicated the changes that will be brought about to the export system and which have already been incorporated by the Arts Council in […]
Posted on: March 25, 2015 by Makoto Shimada
Over the last couple of months, Japanese companies have been flocking to galleries to purchase inexpensive artworks. This trend is a result of a significant governmental change in relation to taxation policy which was adopted from January 2015. According to the newly amended Corporate and Income Tax Law Interpretive Regulations announced by the National Tax […]
Posted on: March 9, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
There has been a slew of media coverage in the UK and elsewhere on the reported destruction by agents of the Islamic State (ISIS) of the unequalled archaeological site of Nimrud in Iraq. While many of the reliefs, wall paintings and a number of the mythical winged bull gatekeepers are kept out of harm’s way […]
Posted on: February 27, 2015 by Alexander Herman
A complaint was filed this week in a US court which seeks the return of the Guelph Treasure, a famous collection of German medieval items, currently held by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. The complaint is being brought by descendants of the one-time Jewish owners of the treasure, who had to part with it in 1935. The collection had […]