Daily Management Review

Cultural Goods Exports: Value Thresholds in France Reassessed


02/04/2021


Art market professionals have won the day: on December 28, after a long consultation process, the French government adopted a decree raising the value thresholds above which a certificate is required to export cultural property (Journal Officiel publication no. 0314 of December 29, 2020).



by Agathe Albi-Gervy

Gustave Caillebotte, Le Déjeuner (Luncheon), classified as a national treasure in February 2020, private collection.
Gustave Caillebotte, Le Déjeuner (Luncheon), classified as a national treasure in February 2020, private collection.
This measure also benefits private individuals wishing to transport their art works outside France. To a greater extent, it helps facilitate the circulation of cultural goods, and simplifies the work of the administration, which has to deal with tens of thousands of applications each year, ending up with only a dozen works duly qualified as "national treasures". This means they are forbidden to leave the country by the French Ministry of Culture, in the interests of protecting national heritage. 

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