Dear GCG member,
There is a new legislation being debated in the German Government, that, if approved would revise the Cultural Heritage Laws of the German states. The revised law could effectively end private collections in the country and close down auctions and trade shows such as the well-known and attended annual "Munich Show" by limiting private ownership of cultural items to include fossils. The new law would also include legal items brought into the country for any trade show offering "Cultural Items", and could result in potential confiscations. Immediate action is required to help prevent this bill from being passed.
Quote from the petition page, "The stipulations of the amendment of the law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage threaten the collecting of cultural objects by private individuals. This law will effect everybody specialized in traditional collecting fields, such as books, stamps, furniture, ceramics, coins, classic cars and paintings. Retroactively, this new law will impose due diligence guidelines that are impossible to follow even for the most meticulous collector. When it comes to a dispute, the law will require, by reversing the burden of proof, the owner of a "cultural good" with a value of at least 2,500 euros to provide proof as to the item's provenance for the previous 20 years; this affects "archaeological cultural goods" with a value as low as 100 euros. This is an unrealistic demand which misrepresents most of the objects that are currently traded on the domestic and the international art market in full accordance with the law as being illegal, and will result in a considerable decline in value of the objects in question."
Here is the link to the petition page:
https://www.openpetition.de/petition/online/fuer-den-erhalt-des-privaten-sammelns
The page is written in German, but there are sections in English if you scroll down the page. The petition will only be available for 70 more days, and they are asking for 120,000 signers around the world. You can sign it no matter where you live.
Thank you,
John
Dr John Nudds,
Senior Lecturer, Palaeontology,
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences,
The University of Manchester,
Oxford Road,
MANCHESTER M13 9PL
UK
Tel. + 44 161 275 7861
See Selden, P.A. and Nudds, J.R. 2012. Evolution of Fossil Ecosystems, 2nd edition, Manson Publishing.
http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781840761603
Nudds, J.R and Selden, P.A. 2008. Fossil Ecosystems of North America. Manson Publishing.
http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781840760880
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