What applies to cultural property of national significance?
As a basic principle, a cultural object that has been entered in a register of cultural property of national significance maintained by a Land or that is the subject of a procedure to determine whether such an entry is necessary may leave Germany only if an export licence has been issued.
This arrangement has existed in Germany since 1955, and was based on previous rules that had applied since 1919.
Different licensing procedures involving different authorities must be completed depending on whether a permanent export (for a period of more than five years) or merely a temporary export (for a period of less than five years) is envisaged:
- Permanent exports of national cultural objects occur only on an exceptional basis; pursuant to Section 23 of the German Act on the Protection of Cultural Property (Kulturgutschutzgesetz, KGSG), the relevant applications must be submitted to the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media in view of their significance for the country as a whole. If an export application is refused, and upon request by the owner, the possibility of granting a purchase option to an institution responsible for preserving cultural property can be considered, following the procedure defined by law (further details in this respect can be found in the section on Cultural property of national significance).
- Conversely, Section 22 KGSG stipulates that applications for temporary exports of national cultural objects should be submitted to the competent authority in the Land that maintains the register of cultural property of national significance containing an entry for the relevant cultural object, or the competent authority in the Land where the institution holding the collection containing the relevant object is located. Temporary export licences are typically issued without any delays.