Measures against the illicit trade in cultural objects: the emerging strategy in Britain

Gaimster, D. (2004), ‘Measures against the illicit trade in cultural objects: the emerging strategy in Britain’, Antiquity 78 (301), 699-707.

Until recently the UK was notorious for its illicit market in unlawfully removed art and antiquities from around the globe. Today the UK marketplace is operating in a very different climate. The UK has recently become a state party to the 1970 UNESCO Convention and is now introducing a package of measures designed to strengthen its treaty obligations, central to which is the creation of a new criminal offence of dishonestly dealing in cultural objects unlawfully removed anywhere in the world. These also include the development of effective tools to aid enforcement and due diligence. Recent events in Iraq have also forced the UK Government to announce its intention to ratify the 1954 Hague Convention.

Keywords: illicit trade, art market, 1970 UNESCO Convention, Dealing in Cultural Objects (Offences) Act 2003, 1954 Hague Convention