Fight against illicit traffic of cultural property in South-East Europe. Gaziantep, Turkey, 19-21 November 2012. Link: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/venice/about-this-office/single-view/news/building_capacities_for_the_fight_against_the_illicit_trafficking_of_cultural_property_ in_south_east_europe/

1. CULTURAL HERITAGE PROTECTION TREATIES SECTION
Fight against illicit traffic of cultural property
in South-East Europe
Gazientep, Turkey, 19 – 21 November 2012
Fighting against
illicit traffic in
internet
Alberto Deregibus a.deregibus@unesco.org

2. CULTURAL HERITAGE PROTECTION TREATIES SECTION
The Internet is a double-edged sword

3. CULTURAL HERITAGE PROTECTION TREATIES SECTION
traffickers have a convenient way to sell
stolen works of art from anywhere in the
world to anyone in the world, without serious
risk of getting caught.
Police have an easy way to monitor, track, isolate and identify
potentially suspicious transactions.
It can lead to greater chances of recovery for stolen pieces, as
well as greater chances of identifying and arresting those
individuals responsible for thefts.

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Easy way to monitor, identify and recover works of art

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But… Police don’t check online transactions

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Today, the Internet is
probably the easiest
method by which Police can
identify stolen or illegally
exported works of art.

7. CULTURAL HERITAGE PROTECTION TREATIES SECTION
It is impossible for the Police to monitor the entire
online market.
National Police units need to consult specialized web
sites and comb through vast numbers of trades to
locate stolen or illegally exported works of art, from
each nation.

8. CULTURAL HERITAGE PROTECTION TREATIES SECTION
Experts, archaeologists, art historians, museum curators with
their expertise are vital for the Police.
a police officer will hardly be able to identify whether a particular
piece online has been accurately described in terms of its country
of origin or its age classification.

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Police have difficulties to recognize parts of paintings

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Interpol
National Central Bureau

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Or
Diplomatic channels

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Interpol
National
Central
Bureau

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Or
Diplomatic channels

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Monitor catalogue auction houses
and specialized websites

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Police have to identify not only
buyers and sellers, but also
middlemen, transporters, agents
handling cash transactions
Investigations!

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Only the national Police force (or, even better, a
specialized unit) can effectively search for your
country’s stolen works of art
Probably no one else will do it!

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Special agreements

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Special tools

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INTERPOL stolen works of art database

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POLICE
EXPERTS

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Interpol Expert Group on Stolen Cultural Property, Lione 7 – 8 Mach 2006

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Basic Actions to counter the Increasing Illicit Sale of Cultural
Objects through the Internet
( UNESCO, INTERPOL, ICOM )
The member States of INTERPOL and UNESCO and the States with ICOM
National Committee are invited to:
Strongly encourage Internet sales platforms to post the following disclaimer on
all their cultural objects sales pages:
“With regard to cultural objects proposed for sale, and before buying them,
buyers are advised to:
- check and request a verification of the licit provenance of the object,
including documents providing evidence of legal export (and possibly
import) of the object likely to have been imported;
- request evidence of the seller’s legal title. In case of doubt, check
primarily with the national authorities of the country of origin and
INTERPOL, and possibly with UNESCO or ICOM.”

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2. Request Internet platforms to disclose relevant information to
law enforcement agencies and to cooperate with them on
investigations of suspicious sales offers of cultural objects;
3. Establish a central authority (within national police forces or
other), which is also responsible for the protection of cultural
properties, in charge of permanently checking and monitoring
sales of cultural objects via the Internet;

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4. Cooperate with national and foreign police forces and INTERPOL as well as the
responsible authorities of other States concerned, in order to:
 Insure that any theft and/or any illegal appropriation of cultural objects be
reported to INTERPOL National Central Bureaux, in order to enable
relevant information to be posted on the INTERPOL Stolen Works of Art
Database;
 Make information available about theft and/or any illegal appropriation of
cultural objects, as well as about any subsequent sale of such cultural
objects, from or to national territories, using the Internet;
 Facilitate rapid identification of cultural objects by: i) ensuring updated
inventories with photographs of cultural objects, or at least their
identification, for example through the Object ID standard; ii) maintaining
a list of recommended experts;
 Use all the tools at their disposal to conduct checks of suspicious cultural
property, in particular the INTERPOL Stolen Works of Art Database;
 Track and prosecute criminal activities related to the sale of cultural
objects on the Internet and inform the INTERPOL General Secretariat of
major investigations involving several countries.

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5.Maintain statistics and register information on the checks
conducted concerning the sale of cultural objects via the
Internet, the vendors in question and the results obtained;
6.Establish legal measures to immediately seize cultural objects
in case of a reasonable doubt concerning their licit
provenance;
5.Assure the return of seized objects of illicit provenance to
their rightful owners

26. CULTURAL HERITAGE PROTECTION TREATIES SECTION
Six years passed since the preparation of this
document, but it seems that very little has been
done and many States have not established any
specific tool to fight illicit traffiking of cultural
goods via the internet

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Alberto Deregibus a.deregibus@unesco.org