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Cultural Heritage Act (Cap. 445) Return Of Cultural Objects Unlawfully Removed From The Territory Of A Member State Of The European Union (Amendment) Regulations, 2005 (L.N. 46 Of 2005 )

CULTURAL HERITAGE ACT (CAP.445)
Return of Cultural Objects Unlawfully Removed from the Territory of a Member State of the European Union (Amendment) Regulations, 2005
BY virtue of article 55 of the Cultural Heritage Act, the Minister for Tourism and Culture has made the following regulations>
1. The title of these regulations is the Return of Cultural Objects Unlawfully Removed from the Territory of a Member State of the European Union (Amendment) Regulations, 2005, and they shall be read and construed as one with Return of Cultural Objects Unlawfully Removed from the Territory of a Member State of the European Union Regulations, 2003, hereinafter referred to as “the principal regulations”.
2. For regulation 2 of the principal regulations, there shall be substituted the following>
“2. In these regulations, unless the content otherwise requires –
“the Act” means the Cultural Heritage Act<
“cultural property” and “cultural heritage” means such property as is specified in the Act and in the First Schedule to these regulations, and include cultural property which is classified, before or after its unlawful removal from the territory of a Member State, as national treasures within the meaning of Article 30 of the Treaty of the Union and belongs to one of the categories listed in the First Schedule or does not belong to one of these categories but forms an integral part of public collections listed in the inventories of museums, archives or libraries conservation collection, or to the inventories of ecclesiastical institutions<
“Member State” means any member state, including
Malta, of the European Union<
“public collections” means collections which are the property of a Member State, a local or regional authority within a Member State, or an institution situated in its territory

Title.

L.N. 246 of 2003

.

Substitutes regulation 2 of the principal regulations.

B 440

Substitutes regulation 5 of the principal regulations.

and defined as public in accordance with the legislation of that Member State, such institution being the property of, or significantly financed by, that Member State or a local or regional authority<
“requesting Member State” means the Member State from whose territory the cultural property has been unlawfully removed<
“the Superintendence” means the Superintendence of
Cultural Heritage established by article 7 of the Act<
“Third Country” means a state or territory which is not or does not belong to a Member State<
“unlawfully removed from the territory of a requesting
Member State” means-
(a) the removal of property from the territory of that Member State in breach of its laws on the protection of national treasures or in breach of the Export of Cultural Property from Malta to Third Countries Regulations,
2005<
(b) property which is not returned at the end of a period of lawful temporary removal, or any breach of another condition governing such temporary removal.”.
3. For regulation 5 of the principal regulations there shall be substituted the following >-

“Establishment of the competent authority.

5. The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, established by article 7 of the Act shall be the competent authority appointed to carry out the duties provided for in these regulations.”.

Substitutes regulation 6 of the principal regulations.

4. For regulation 6 of the principal regulations there shall be substituted the following>
“6. The Superintendence shall -
(a) upon application by a requesting Member State, initiate proceedings to seek a specified cultural object which has been unlawfully removed from the territory of the requesting state, with the purpose of identifying the possessor and, or holder. The application shall be in writing and shall>
i. include a document describing the object covered by the request and stating that it is a cultural object, and
ii. include a declaration by any competent authority of the requesting Member State that the cultural object has been unlawfully removed from its territory, and
iii. include all information needed to facilitate this search, with particular reference to the actual or presumed location of the object<
(b) notify the Member State concerned on finding cultural property in Malta and there is reasonable suspicion that such cultural property has been unlawfully removed from its territory<
(c) provide for the physical inspection of the said cultural property by the competent authority of the requesting Member State to verify that the object is cultural property>
Provided that the inspection is to be carried out within two months from the date of notification provided for in paragraph (b) hereof by the competent authority in the requesting Member State. If the inspection does not take place within the stipulated time, then paragraphs (d) and (e) hereunder shall cease to apply<
(d) take any necessary measures in cooperation with the requesting Member State to physically preserve the cultural property in question<
(e) act to prevent, by any necessary interim measure, any action to evade the return procedure< and
(f) coordinate with and liaise between the requesting Member State and the possessor and, or holder of illegally removed cultural property for the purpose of returning such cultural property to its place of origin. This may include coordination to commence arbitration proceedings according to Maltese law between the requesting Member State and the possessor and, or holder of the cultural property.”.
B 441
B 442

Substitutes regulation 7 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

8 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

9 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

10 of the principal regulations.

5. For regulation 7 of the principal regulations there shall be substituted the following>
“7. (1) A requesting Member State shall be entitled to initiate proceedings before the competent court in Malta against the possessor or, in default, the holder of the said object to secure the return of cultural property unlawfully removed from the territory of such requesting Member State.
(2) Save as otherwise provided for in regulation 8, the competent court shall order the return of the cultural object in question where such object is classified as cultural property and it is found to have been unlawfully removed from the territory of the requesting Member State.
(3) Proceedings may only be brought following a written application as provided for in regulation 6(a). Moreover, the document and declaration provided for in regulation 6(a) shall be filed in court by the plaintiff on commencement of the proceedings.
(4) The central authority of the requesting Member State shall forthwith inform the Superintendence that proceedings have been initiated with the aim of securing the return of cultural property. The Superintendence shall forthwith inform the central authorities of other Member States.”.
6. In sub-regulation (1) of regulation 8 of the principal regulations for the words “the requested state” there shall be substituted the word “Malta”.
7. Regulation 9 of the principal regulations shall be amended as follows >-
(a) for the words “the Member State involved” in sub- regulation (1) there shall be substituted the word “Malta”< and
(b) in sub-regulation (2) thereof, for the words “the legislation of the requested Member State” there shall be substituted the words “Maltese law”.
8. For sub-regulation (3) of regulation 10 of the principal regulations, there shall be substituted the following>
“(3) Such proceedings may not, at any event, be commenced more than thirty years after the object was unlawfully removed
from the territory of the requesting Member State. However, in the case of objects forming part of public collections listed in the inventories of museums, archives or the conservation collection of libraries, and ecclesiastical goods in the requesting Member State where they are subject to special protection arrangements under national law, return proceedings shall be subject to a time limit of seventy-five years, except where proceedings are not subject to a time limit in the requesting Member State, or in the case of a bilateral agreement between Malta and the requesting Member State laying down a period exceeding seventy-five years.”.
9. Regulations 11 and 12 of the principal regulations shall be deleted and regulations 13 and 14 renumbered as 11 and 12.
10. In sub-regulation (4) of regulation 12 of the principal regulations, for the words “the property of the State who is obliged” there shall be substituted the words “the property of Malta which has the obligation”.
11. Immediately at the end of regulation 12 of the principal regulations there shall be added the following schedule>
B 443

Deletes regulations

11 and 12 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

14 of the principal regulations.

Adds First Schedule to the principal regulations.

B 444
FIRST SCHEDULE
(Regulation 2)
Categories referred so in the definitions “cultural property” and “cultural heritage” in regulation 2 to which objects classified as ‘national treasures’ within the meaning of Article 30 of the Treaty of the Union must belong in order to qualify for return under these regulations.
of>
A. 1. Archaeological objects more than 100 years old which are the products
- land or underwater excavations and finds,
- archaeological sites,
- archaeological collections.
2. Elements forming an integral part of artistic, historical or religious monuments which have been dismembered, more than 100 years old.
3. Pictures and paintings, other than those included in Category 3A or 4, executed entirely by hand on any material and in any medium (1).
3A. Water-colours, gouaches and pastels executed entirely by hand on any material (1).
4. Mosaics in any material executed entirely by hand, other than those falling in Categories 1 or 2, and drawings in any medium executed entirely by hand on any material (1).
5. Original engravings, prints, serigraphs and lithographs with their respective plates and original posters (1).
6. Original sculptures or statuary and copies produced by the same process as the original (1) other than those in category 1.
7. Photographs, films and negatives thereof (1).
8. Incunabula and manuscripts, including maps and musical scores, singly or in collections (1).
9. Books more than 100 years old, singly or in collections.
10. Printed maps more than 200 years old.
B 445
11. Archives and any elements thereof, of any kind, on any medium, comprising elements more than 50 years old.
12. (a) Collections and specimens from zoological, botanical, mineralogical or anatomical collections<
interest.
(b) Collections of historical, palaeontological, ethnographic or numismatic
13. Means of transport more than 75 years old.
14. Any other antique item not included in categories A 1 to A 13, more than 50 years old.
The cultural objects in categories A 1 to A 14 are covered by these regulations only if their value corresponds to, or exceeds, the financial thresholds under part B.
B. Financial thresholds applicable to certain categories under A

VALUE>

Whatever the value
- 1 (Archaeological objects)
- 2 (Dismembered monuments)
- 8 (Incunabula and manuscripts)
- 11 (Archives)

Lm 6,000

- 4 (Mosaics and drawings)
- 5 (Engravings)
- 7 (Photographs)
- 10 (Printed maps)

Lm 12,000

- 3A (Water colours, gouaches and pastels)

Lm 20,000

- 6 (Statuary)
- 9 (Books)
- 12 (Collections)
- 13 (Means of transport)
- 14 (Any other item)
B 446

Lm 60,000

- 3 (Pictures)
The assessment of whether or not the conditions relating to financial value are fulfilled must be made when return is requested. The financial value is that of the object in Malta.
(1) Which are more than fifty years old and do not belong to their originators.

Ippubblikat mid-Dipartiment ta’ l-Informazzjoni (doi.gov.mt) — Valletta — Published by the Department of Information (doi.gov.mt) — Valletta

Mitbug[ fl-Istamperija tal-Gvern — Printed at the Government Printing Press

Prezz 32ç – Price 32c