The Import of Cultural Goods under EU and Greek Law – A Critical Outlook

In recent decades, there have been many offences against world cultural heritage by terrorist entities aimed not only at damaging the historical past and cultural identity of specific nations, but also at financing their activities through the sale of cultural objects. The European Union (EU) countries have often been the recipients of such cultural goods from conflict-ridden territories. For this reason, the EU has gradually adopted a set of legal measures aimed at reducing the flow of illegal cultural goods from third countries into its territory. Focusing on the North-Eastern Mediterranean boundaries of the EU for geopolitical reasons, this article examines the EU’s legal measures regarding the import of cultural goods from third countries from the perspective of Greece in order to investigate whether the new regulatory measures could be effective in this particular Member State. On one hand this article examines EU Regulation No. 1210/2003, Regulation No. 1332/2013, and Regulation No. 2019/880; and on the other it analyses Article 33 of the Greek Law 3028/2002 regarding the import of cultural goods. As regards the latter, this approach includes not only the law itself but also cases generated under it, its legislative history where applicable, and commentaries and literature on the law that will enable the measurement of the effectiveness of the new measures in Greece. Comparisons are also made herein, albeit to a lesser extent and mainly between the EU import rules and the relevant national rules, as the effects of EU law upon Greek law are yet to be identified.