Act on the Protection of Cultural Property
In 2016, Germany completed a comprehensive reform of its legislation on the protection of cultural property, one of the aims of which was to bring German law into line with EU and international standards, in particular the 1970 UNESCO Convention.
Source: picture alliance/ AP Photo/ Domenico Stinellis
The German Act on the Protection of Cultural Property (Kulturgutschutzgesetz, KGSG) entered into force on 6 August 2016, and serves to protect not only cultural objects that are particularly important for Germany because of their outstanding significance for the country’s cultural identity (“national valuable cultural property”), but also objects categorized as national cultural property by other countries.
This Act marked the first time that the legislator had combined all of the regulations on preventing the exodus of cultural property and securing the return of cultural property that had previously applied under German law into a single piece of legislation. The provisions were also revised and supplemented with a great many new regulations and procedural simplifications.
Further details of the material regulatory requirements can be found in the section entitled Key points.