The EU Regulation on the Import of Cultural Goods: A Paradigm Shift in EU Cultural Property Legislation?

Abstract

: The EU has recently decided to regulate the import of cultural goods in the EU. While the new provisions have been widely criticised for various reasons, primarily for having a freezing effect on the European art trade, it cannot be overlooked that the regulation of the import of works of art is not unprecedented, either in international, regional and national legal instruments or at the level of EU legislation. The new legislation can be considered a paradigm shift. It completes the pre-existing EU legal sources that primarily aimed to protect cultural goods originating from the EU and provides equal and symmetric protection for cultural goods arriving from third countries. In this way, the EU regulation transcends a self-centred regional approach and embodies a global vision of the protection of cultural heritage.