Symposium on the 30th Anniversary of the Cultural Property Implementation Act

Symposium on the 30th Anniversary of the Cultural Property Implementation Act 

http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/2013/10/symposium-on-30th-anniversary-of.html

by Peter Tompa 

The New York City Bar and the American Society of International Law are sponsoring a symposium on the 30th Anniversary of the CPIA on Tuesday, October 22, 2013, 6:30 PM- 9:00 PM.  To register, click here.

City Bar Member Price : Free
ASIL Member Price : Free
Non Member Price : $15.00

Where: New York City Bar

42 West 44th Street
New York, NY 10036

Passed by Congress in 1983, the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (Public Law No. 97-446, 96 Stat. 2350, 19 U.S.C. §2601 et seq.)(the “CPIA”) was the result of ten years of lobbying and legislative drafting and compromise by U.S. government agencies, dealers, museums, collectors, academics and source countries. This panel will explore the history of the CPIA, its implementation over the past thirty years and new ideas about improving the CPIA in the future. A Q&A to follow.

Introduction: JOSH LIPSMAN, Chair, Cultural Property Subcommittee

Moderator: MICHAEL McCULLOUGH, Chair, International Trade Subcommittee and Managing Partner, Michael McCullough LLC

Speakers: ARTHUR A. HOUGHTON, Former State Department Official and two-term member of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee; LAWRENCE MUSHINSKE, Former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office and National Import Specialist for Art and Antiques; PETER K. TOMPA, Attorney, Bailey & Ehrenberg; JONATHAN ILLARI, Associate General Counsel, Bonhams; LEILA AMINEDDOLEH, Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation and Adjunct Professor, St. John’s University School of Law

Sponsored by: Committee on Art Law, Dean Nicyper, Chair

Co-sponsored by: Cultural Heritage and the Arts Interest Group, American Society of International Law (ASIL), Irina Tarsis, Chair




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COMMENTARY
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The tridecennial of the CCPIA is an occasion tha positively cries out for a thoughtful and unbiased review of what has transpired during those thirty years, in comparison with what Congress expected when administration of this law was entrusted to the State Depargment under the guidance and direction of Maria Kouroupas.

It is far past time that such a review should take place. Achaeologist Kouroupas and her hand-picked minions have become notorious for pursuing an anticollecting, antitrade and essentially antiAmerican agenda, whereby the lawful rights of individual American citizens interested in collecting antiquities are automatically and without compunction subordinated to any and every claim made by a foreign government, however slender the supporting evidence may be.

It is far past time for the US government to adopt a legal perspective that factual truth must be the basis for analyzing and adjudicating the requests for import restrictions submitted by foreign governments, and that (for example) a claim submitted by a foreign government such of that of the Republic of Cyprus must not receive any more consideration than the lawful rights of one individual US antiquties collector or law-abiding US antiquities dealer.


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