Zakaz wywozu dóbr kultury i jego praktyczne konsekwencje

Among assorted legal institutions foreseen in the statute of 15 February 1962 on the protection of cultural property an extremely prominent role is played by a prohibition relating to the export of cultural goods. This is by no means a new regulation, since it had been enforced already upon the basis of a decree from 1946 on the registration and prohibition of the export of works of art and objects of artistic, historical or cultural value. The protected cultural property encompasses portable or stationary objects, old or contemporary, and of significance for cultural heritage and development owing to their historical, scientific or artistic value. The prohibition was established by the legislator primarily owing to the immense devastation of Polish cultural legacy during the second world war. Doubts concerning the retention of the prohibition in its present-day form are voiced mainly in view of the regulation of this problem by the law of the European Communities. On the other hand, it remains indubitable that owing to obligatory international agreements prohibition of this sort must pertain to cultural goods obtained by means of crime (theft, fencing). This issue is regulated by two international conventions: the convention signed on in Paris on 17 November 1970, and dealing with measures intent on banning and preventing the illegal export, import and transference of the ownership of cultural goods, and the convention on co-operation and mutual assistance in intercepting and returning cultural property illegally transported across state frontiers, signed in Plovdiv on 22 April 1986. The legal situation of the import of cultural property is different, since such transportation is supported by the legislator. At present, the Parliament of the Republic of Poland is examining two competing projects of statutes (on the protection of national legacy and on the protection of historical monuments), both regulating the titular subject.