Nafziger, James A. R. --- "United States" [2014] ELECD 297; in Nafziger, A.R. James; Paterson, Kirkwood Robert (eds), "Handbook on the Law of Cultural Heritage and International Trade" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014) 506

Book Title: Handbook on the Law of Cultural Heritage and International Trade

Editor(s): Nafziger, A.R. James; Paterson, Kirkwood Robert

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781007334

Section: Chapter 21

Section Title: United States

Author(s): Nafziger, James A. R.

Number of pages: 26

Abstract/Description:

The legal system of the United States does not specifically regulate the export of cultural material originating in the country. Neither the United States Code nor the Code of Federal Regulations addresses such exports. Instead, the federal government, which otherwise regulates exports, relies heavily on interior enforcement measures as a substitute means of control. As we shall see, these measures include both federal and state laws that regulate the ownership, disposition, and transport of Native American and Native Hawaiian cultural heritage as well as other cultural material found on both public lands and private land to the extent that the laws explicitly provide or are so interpreted. Otherwise, the national policy generally favors unrestricted export of cultural material. In the section on import controls, however, we shall see that the United States has adopted extensive laws and regulations and otherwise assumed major international obligations to bar the importation of stolen and pillaged objects and to restitute or return such objects to their countries of origin. As a so-called market state for cultural material, the country thus plays a major role in global efforts to deter and respond to illegal trafficking in cultural material.