Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee on the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 of 18 December 2008 on the export of cultural goods 1 January 2011 – 31 December 2013

This report on the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 on the export of cultural goods ('Basic Regulation') provides information on the use of the export licences for cultural goods under the framework created by the Basic Regulation and the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1081/2012. The report is based on data provided by the Member States in reply to a questionnaire on the use of the export licences. It covers the period from 2011 to 2013, with some developments from early 2014.

The figures reported relate to three types of export licences: standard licences, specific open licences and general open licences.

The total number of standard licences granted during the period 2011-2013 was 24,564. The main issuers of this type of licences were the United Kingdom and Italy.

Specific open licences are granted for the repeated temporary export of specific cultural goods by a particular person or organisation. During the period under review, 946 specific open licences were granted to a total of 588 persons or organisations. More than 90% of these licences were issued by the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Poland.

General open licences cover any temporary export of cultural goods that form part of the permanent collection of a museum or other institution. In the period under review, such licences were granted a total of 472 times by five Member States, with Spain accounting for 84% of the total.

The granting of a standard licence was refused 318 times, the most common reason being that the cultural goods in question were considered a 'national treasure'. 147 non-compliant consignments were detected during the period, the vast majority by France and the Netherlands (93% of the total).

The report also provides information on current initiatives and challenges for the future, such as the possible introduction of an online database of issued export licences which would interface with national customs clearance systems, the interpretation of problematic categories of cultural goods listed in Annex I to the Basic Regulation, the cooperation between authorities, the adequacy of the financial thresholds and the absence of control at the importation of cultural goods.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)144: Follow the progress of this report through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:144:FIN

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