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New Swiss Law on Cultural Property

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2006

Marc Weber
Marc Weber
Affiliation:
Beglinger Holenstein, Attorneys-at-Law, Zürich. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

On June 1, 2005, the Swiss Federal Act on the International Transfer of Cultural Property (Cultural Property Transfer Act [CPTA]) and the regulations thereof became effective. The CPTA implements the minimal standards of the UNESCO Convention of 1970 on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. The CPTA fills a gap, because Switzerland is not a member state of the Convention of June 24, 1995, on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects (Unidroit Convention 1995). In addition, as a nonmember state of the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Community (EEC), the Council Directive 93/7/EEC of March 15, 1993, on the Return of Cultural Objects Unlawfully Removed from the Territory of a Member State is not applicable. The CPTA enforces foreign export bans in Switzerland. However, claims in Switzerland for return of foreign, illegally exported cultural property are only successful when there is an agreement on the import and return of cultural property between Switzerland and the claiming foreign state. Like Switzerland, the claiming state must be a member state of the UNESCO Convention of 1970.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Cultural Property , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , February 2006 , pp. 99 - 113
Copyright
© 2006 International Cultural Property Society

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