[MSN] RECOMMENDATIONS: 5th Meeting of theINTERPOL Expert Group (IEG) on Stolen Cultural Property - Lyon, 4 and 5 March 2008

[MSN]

RECOMMENDATIONS

5th Meeting of theINTERPOL Expert Group (IEG) on Stolen Cultural Property -
Lyon, 4 and 5 March 2008

The participants at the 5th Meeting of the Interpol Expert Group (IEG) on
Stolen Cultural Property, held in Lyon on 4 and 5 March 2008:

RECOGNIZING  the value of INTERPOL's stolen works of art database as a world
wide investigation tool and the need for systematic supply of updated
information,

AWARE of the need for access to this information beyond the law enforcement
agencies by the museums, the art trade professionals and the wider public,

ALARMED by the recent increase of armed robberies from museums, churches,
public and private collections of works of art,

CONSCIENT of the persistent use of the Internet for the illicit sale of
cultural property involving responsibility on the part of the Internet
platforms,

ACKNOWLEDGING the crucial role that the art trade can play in the fight
against illicit traffic in cultural property,

NOTING the lack of public awareness of the importance of cultural heritage
and the need for its protection


Recommend:


-	The INTERPOL General Secretariat :

- to develop an electronic message format in order to facilitate the
transmission of art theft information  from the National Central Bureaus to
the General Secretariat;

- to pursue the initiative of granting the widest possible access to
INTERPOL's stolen works of art database by means of its public web site; 

- to collect and periodically disseminate information from member countries
concerning agreements with Internet platforms with a view to reducing the
illicit online sales of cultural property;

- to closely monitor the increasing use of violence in art crime and address
the problem during future conferences and meetings;



-	INTERPOL, UNESCO and ICOM:

- to jointly study the means of raising public awareness for the protection
of cultural heritage;



-	INTERPOL and UNESCO member countries:

- to contact their respective art trade associations, in particular auction
houses, in order to obtain their adoption and application of codes of ethics
and specific rules;

- to conclude agreements with Internet platforms containing the limitation
of sale of cultural property according to national law, the self control of
the Internet platforms and activities of raising public awareness of the
need for the protection of cultural property ;

- to encourage Internet platforms, auction houses and art dealers to grant
free access to online and conventional catalogues for law enforcement
agencies;



-	ICOM: 

- to contact international art trade associations and auction houses in
order to obtain their adoption and application of codes of ethics and
specific rules.