In 1815, states organized on a large scale the restitution of works of art seized by a conqueror.
More than two centuries later, France is in the process of adopting a law on “the restitution of cultural property from a State which, due to an illicit appropriation, has been deprived of it”. The text adopted by the Joint Committee is to be discussed in the Assembly today, May 6.
It seemed interesting to me, in this context of current legislation, to come back to the body of rules resulting from international and European law on the restitution of cultural property.
What this review reveals is instructive:
📌 France only ratified the 1970 UNESCO Convention in 1997, with an annexed declaration that considerably reduces its scope.
📌 It signed the Unidroit Convention of 1995 (the most technically successful instrument) without ever ratifying it, under pressure from antique dealers.
📌 Nor has it ratified the 2017 Nicosia Convention, which criminalises trafficking in cultural property. ➡️
The 2026 bill provides for the creation of an administrative procedure for the removal of public collections. This is real progress. But it does not change the rules of evidence that continue to weigh on requesting states, does not ratify any additional international conventions, and does not affect the due diligence obligations of dealers and collectors.
International restitution law is rich in texts and poor in effectiveness, which can be seen as the result of thirty years of compromise between exporting and commercial States, where accession has systematically taken precedence over effectiveness.
