Introduction and the Import of Cultural Goods (Revocation) Regulations 2021

Lord Clement-Jones Excerpts

Wednesday 30th June 2021 Grand Committee

[Lord Clement-Jones (LD)]

My Lords, I also thank the Minister for his introduction today. It is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, and my noble friend Lord German.

The Government have adopted what can be described only as a cavalier approach to the repeal of an important regulation designed to prevent illicit trade in cultural goods in the EU. I am glad that the advice of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has been heeded, and that we have the opportunity for this debate today. I understand that new provisions are needed on our exit from the EU, but a complete repeal without any replacement mirroring the provisions for the UK by itself raises serious questions of the kind that both the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, and my noble friend have raised. On these Benches, we do not support this SI, for the reasons set out by my noble friend, the noble Lord and, shortly, by myself.

There are real issues here about what consultation was carried out, what the result of the consultation was, who was in support of this solution and who wanted to see a different solution. Were the requirements on provenance the key objection to the current regulation? If so, in what respect? Does not the sum total of what the Government are proposing mean that illicit and looted artefacts will now enter the UK more freely?

The timing of the tabling of the SI was a surprise to expert organisations such as UK Blue Shield, the organisation so instrumental in campaigning for the Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts) Act 2017. Indeed, we had little notice in Parliament that this was coming before us. UK Blue Shield rightly raised the question of whether the decision to revoke the regulation intended to prevent the funding of terrorism, as one of the UK Government’s first post-Brexit repeals, may well cause international controversy and criticism. It calls into question the UK Government’s recent declaration in the integrated review, Global Britain in a Competitive Age, that culture is key to their soft power agenda.

The Explanatory Memorandum and the de minimis assessment are highly misleading. They suggest that existing domestic laws are sufficient to prevent illicit trafficking, but they say little about the practice of those laws. As Blue Shield says, referring to the 2003 Act and the Hague convention mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson,

“in reality, they are not actively enforced in the UK and do not require active checks of imported cultural goods. Furthermore, not all legislation applies equally across the UK, a fact which is notably absent from the Memorandum.”

This was expertly brought out by my noble friend Lord German, who is a great deal more expert in the vagaries of devolution than I am. It goes on:

“As a result, by trying to reduce the requirements imposed by the Regulation, UK customs authorities will have to understand and operate three different sets of rules and laws to ensure no illicit cultural objects enter UK borders, depending on the point of entry.”


My noble friend shared with us the very graphic example of an Egyptian artefact.

Blue Shield sets out three major risks with which I entirely agree: that Northern Ireland may be used as a gateway to move illicit cultural property into Europe, that there would be reputational damage to the UK and that the UK would be a target for illicit cultural objects. It quotes Alexander Herman, assistant director of the Institute of Art and Law, who comments:

“The EU Regulation’s Article 3(1) prohibition on introducing cultural goods presents a significant expansion of the usual import restrictions for this sort of material. By repealing it, the UK may be seen to be facilitating the illicit trade, even if that is not its intention. Rather than a ‘quiet repeal’”—


more like “virtually invisible”—

“the UK should instead come out and demonstrate its commitment to fighting illicit trade by ensuring that its existing national legislation is properly implemented and enforced at the border. Only through such actions will the UK be able to ensure that its art and antiquities market remains legitimate going forward.”

Why is the UK repealing this regulation with a whimper and not this kind of commitment?

I assume that the current GOV.UK link is to out-of-date guidance on licences by the Arts Council England—at least, I hope it is out of date—which was last updated in December. The GOV.UK site says:

“You need a UK licence to export cultural objects from the UK to any destination outside the UK. You do not need a licence to move objects of cultural interest from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.”


That, I assume, will have to change. Can the Minister confirm that checks will be required by the regulations on cultural goods going into Northern Ireland, or are the Government planning to break the terms of annexe 2 of the Northern Ireland protocol EU agreement?

It is clear that the Government risk getting us into a muddle and allowing confusion on the rules, which will give a real opportunity for those dealing with illicit works. I hope that is not the Government’s intention, but they seem to have listened to the wrong advice on this. Will they rethink their approach or are they in the pockets of the art dealers—the “art market stakeholders” so frequently mentioned in the assessment —who want to continue with the practices of the past?

The SLSC pointed to fears in the de minimis assessment, and I think it is worth quoting from that. It says that:

“It is likely to be criticised by those who consider that the UK needs to do more to prevent the import into the UK of cultural goods which have been stolen, looted and/or unlawfully exported from other countries. They are likely to argue that we should have fixed the provision to make it operate correctly in UK law. They may also argue that we should retain the other provisions to facilitate the eventual implementation of the whole of the Regulation, including the import licence and importer statement requirements.”


Bullseye—that is exactly the criticism being made of these regulations.

I thought the constructive suggestion from the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson—that the Law Commission could get involved—was very good. Others have been put forward around co-operation with UNESCO that Blue Shield would be keen to see. I think there are a number of ways forward, but they all involve putting something in place which brings us closer to the original impact of the regulation and does not simply repeal the EU regulation in the way that the Government have suggested.