New Regulation on EU Antiques Import will shake up the Market

The sector is bracing for the implementation of Regulation 2019/880 on June 28 which will introduce strict new requirements for imports into the European Union from non-EU countries, Le Figaro reported Tuesday.

Dealers wishing to import archaeological treasures will have to provide documentation and proof that they have been exported from their country of origin legally.

Other items including artworks, coins or books that are worth more than 18,000 euros ($20,500) and are more than 200 years old will also be subject to the restrictions.

“We’ll end up buying nothing outside the European Union,” warned Antonia Eberwein, vice president of the National Union of Antiques Dealers (SNA) in France.

She warned that the markets for archaeological items, as well as pre-Columbian, Chinese or Indian art “risk being depleted, without putting an end to illicit trafficking, which by nature is invisible and undeclared.”

The regulation is a European response to developments spanning terrorism in the Middle East to changing attitudes to cultural appropriation.

The links between organized crime, terror groups and trafficking in cultural goods have been repeatedly raised by international police group Interpol and the United Nations.

The European Commission estimated in 2017 that the illicit trade in cultural goods could be worth up to 6.0 billion euros a year, putting it on a par with drugs, arms or counterfeit goods trafficking.