Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

PROTECTION OF MOVABLE CULTURAL HERITAGE ACT 1986 - SECT 14

  (1)   Where:

  (a)   a protected object of a foreign country has been exported from that country;

  (b)   the export was prohibited by a law of that country relating to cultural property; and

  (c)   the object is imported;

the object is liable to forfeiture.

  (2)   Where a person imports an object, knowing that:

  (a)   the object is a protected object of a foreign country that has been exported from that country; and

  (b)   the export was prohibited by a law of that country relating to cultural property;

the person commits an offence.

Penalty:

  (a)   if the person is a natural person--imprisonment for a period not exceeding 5 years or a fine not exceeding 1,000 penalty units, or both; or

  (b)   if the person is a body corporate--a fine not exceeding 2,000 penalty units.

  (3)   This section does not apply in relation to the importation of an object if:

  (a)   the importation takes place under an agreement between:

  (i)   the Commonwealth, a State, a Territory, a principal collecting institution or an exhibition co - ordinator; and

  (ii)   any other person or body (including a government); and

  (b)   the agreement provides for the object to be loaned, for a period not exceeding 2 years, to the Commonwealth, State, Territory, principal collecting institution or exhibition co - ordinator, as the case may be, for the purpose of its public exhibition within Australia.

  (4)   In subsection   (3):

"exhibition co-ordinator" means a body that arranges for the conducting in Australia of public exhibitions of objects from collections outside Australia, and that achieves this by, from time to time:

  (a)   entering into an agreement with a person or body (including a government) for the importation of such objects on loan; and

  (b)   entering into an agreement with the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory under which the Commonwealth, State or Territory agrees to compensate the person or body referred to in paragraph   (a) for any loss of or damage to the objects arising from, or connected with, the carrying out of the agreement referred to in that paragraph or the public exhibition of the objects in Australia.