Export of movable cultural goods, restricted

Restricting the duration of temporary export for a maximum period of six months of movable cultural goods, with the possibility of extending the export only once, for a period of six months, is among the main amendments to the legislation regulating the conditions under which exhibitions can be held abroad, according to a draft regulatory act. The Ministry of Culture announced the opening of the decision-making transparency process for the draft Government Decision aimed at amending and supplementing the Methodological Norms regarding the permanent or temporary export of movable cultural goods, regulated by Government Decision no. 518 of April 7, 2004, with subsequent amendments and supplements. The draft Government Decision proposes additional measures to protect movable cultural goods, in the case of exports, such as security measures that include human guarding throughout the duration of the temporary export: transport, storage, exhibition. Risk analyses will be carried out by the organizing institution abroad, and within the loan contract, provided for in Annex no. 1, provisions in this regard are proposed. In order to protect movable cultural goods, the following are proposed: restricting the duration of temporary export for a maximum period of 6 months, with the possibility of extending the export only once, for a period of 6 months; movable cultural goods in public ownership may be temporarily exported in order to participate in exhibitions, only if they have been on Romanian territory for a period of at least 6 months.

In this context, clarifications of the export procedure and the detailing of the content of the documentation that must be submitted, in order to issue the export certificate, are provided: "Thus, additional documents are requested, such as the applicant's declaration, given under the sanction of the Criminal Code regarding false declarations, according to which, throughout the duration of the temporary export: transport, storage, exhibition, human guarding of movable cultural goods is ensured. Additional documents are required to issue the in-principle approval for the export of movable cultural goods, namely: a document attesting to the fulfillment of the physical security conditions of the location where the borrowed movable cultural goods are exhibited and the decision of the applicant's board of directors regarding the export of movable cultural goods for the purpose of the exhibition. At the same time, the deadlines for submitting documentation correlated with the date of removal of movable cultural goods from the territory of Romania have been extended. It is mentioned that there must be photographs for all movable cultural goods for which export is requested, including books, publications, stamps and postcards of frequency and large series or for some large series goods that can be precisely identified by inscriptions, marks or other characteristics of the respective objects. It is also clarified the type of stamps that are applied to photographs and not directly to the movable cultural goods (an operation that could lead to damage to the goods). In order to increase the security measures for exported movable cultural goods, annex no. 1, the loan framework contract and annex no. 7 was added, a document attesting to the fulfillment of the physical security conditions of the location where the borrowed movable cultural goods are exhibited. Clarifications were introduced regarding the content of the file that must be submitted for the export of movable cultural goods classified in the treasury, which are privately owned. The project also regulates the situation regarding the failure to return within the Romanian borders of movable cultural goods classified or unclassified temporarily exported, within the term established by the export certificate or within the term established by the export certificate extending the term issued according to the legal provisions, which constitutes an illegal export operation.

The Ministry of Culture will propose tightening the legislative framework that regulates the conditions under which exhibitions can be held abroad, announced Minister Natalia Intotero.

Natalia Intotero showed that these rules were established by specialists from the Heritage Directorate of the Ministry of Culture, together with those from the Legal Service, and their proposals will be improved by all specialists in the field.