The Return of Illegally Exported or Imported Values
The Georgian law on the export and import of cultural values obliges the state to protect the rights of owners. In accordance with the international obligations assumed by Georgia and its legislation, the owner of a cultural value has the right to apply with a request to the competent authorities of Georgia, asking them to render assistance in returning to Georgia a cultural value illegally exported from Georgia or held in unlawful possession on the territory of a foreign state. At the same time, a cultural value illegally imported into Georgia from abroad is returned to its owner in accordance with the procedure established by the international obligations and the legislation of Georgia. The law thus frames both directions with a guarantee of protection — both the bringing back of Georgian values and respect for the rights of foreign owners on the territory of Georgia.
The State's Preemptive Purchase Right
Where the export from Georgia of a cultural value that has been granted the status of a monument of cultural heritage — including the case where that status emerged as a result of the examination of the value declared for export — is to be carried out for the purpose of sale, the owner is obliged to notify the ministry accordingly. That notification is the key which switches on the special mechanism of the state.
The ministry, on the basis of the historical, artistic and/or cultural value of a monument of cultural heritage declared for export from Georgia for the purpose of sale, has the right of its preemptive purchase for keeping it in Georgia and/or of selling it at auction in Georgia. The ministry takes the decision on exercising this right no later than the deadline needed for issuing the export permit, counting from the day of receipt of the application, and immediately notifies the declarant. If a decision on the purchase and/or auction sale of the monument has been adopted, it must be executed no later than 3 months from its adoption.
The main condition of selling a monument of cultural heritage at auction is the obligation of the buyer not to export the monument from Georgia, for a definite term or indefinitely. In other words, the auction price may be pocketed only where the purchased monument will not leave the borders of Georgia — a temporary or permanent restriction is built into this very requirement.
Who Is Not Covered by the Preemptive Purchase Mechanism
The preemptive purchase rule does not apply to cultural values defined by the constitutional agreement between the Georgian state and the Georgian Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church and owned by other religious organizations, which have religious and spiritual value.
A special regime applies to the values, exhibits, collections and monuments kept in state museum funds, archives, libraries and other analogous institutions for the protection of cultural values: their export from Georgia for the purpose of sale is possible only in agreement with the ministry and on condition that the proceeds of the sale are used exclusively for the acquisition of replacement values of equal historical, artistic and/or cultural value.
The rule also does not apply to cases where the owner of the monument is its author, or his heir during 70 years from the author's death, who is a citizen of Georgia or a stateless person and is leaving permanently to live abroad, or where the monument was inherited by a citizen of a foreign country. In such a case the purchase of the monument by the state and/or its sale at auction in Georgia is possible only with the consent of the owner.
How the Purchase Price Is Determined
If the person wishing to export the monument has, at the moment of export, an official offer from a potential buyer, the price of the monument's purchase by the ministry and the initial price of the auction announced by it are deemed to be the price fixed in that offer.
If a monument declared for export is intended for sale at an auction organized outside Georgia, or if no official offer exists, the purchase price and the initial auction price are deemed to be the last sale price recorded at the corresponding sale auction or another world auction: where the author of the monument is known, on cultural values of the corresponding genre and theme of the same author; where the author is unknown, the last sale price recorded on values of the corresponding genre and theme of the historical epoch of the monument's creation.
If the price cannot be determined by these two rules, the ministry's purchase price and/or the initial auction price it announces is established by negotiation; the right of negotiation is not limited in the first two cases either — the parties can always agree on a price consistent with the reality of the market.
Seizure by Customs and Law-Enforcement Bodies
A cultural value whose owner cannot be established and which is temporarily seized by the customs authority of Georgia, the internal affairs bodies or other state bodies is transferred to the ministry for keeping until the owner is established. The ministry protects such a value, ensures its state expertise and disseminates official information in order to establish the right of ownership on it.
When the court establishes the owner of such a cultural value, the value is transferred to the owner or his lawful representative if it has been established that the value became the subject of violation of the rules established by the customs legislation of Georgia irrespective of their will. The costs of protection and keeping, as well as those connected with the expertise, are borne by the owner, unless the court establishes otherwise.
A temporarily seized cultural value whose owner is not established is transferred by the ministry, with the right of ownership, to a state museum, library or archive fund. A value that is not transferred with the right of ownership for permanent keeping and protection to a state or municipal museum, archive, library or other state institution for the protection of cultural values is, in accordance with the legislation, subject to realization, and the amount is credited to the state budget of Georgia.
International Cooperation and Public Collections
In order to prevent the illegal export from Georgia, illegal import into Georgia and illegal transfer of the right of ownership, the ministry cooperates with the analogous services of foreign states and with governmental and non-governmental organizations. For the purposes of international regulation the state is obliged to prevent the acquisition, by a museum, archive, library or other analogous institution on its territory, of a cultural value created in a foreign state that has been illegally imported or acquired; and to take the necessary measures, at the request of a foreign state, for the recovery and return of every cultural value imported into the territory of Georgia, on the essential condition that the guarantor of full compensation to the good-faith buyer is the foreign state, if the payment of such compensation does not contradict international obligations or the legislation of Georgia.
A separate provision concerns the cleaning of damaged books: for carrying out cleaning works on damaged books kept in the library, museum, archive or other analogous institution of a state or public-law legal person, for the purpose of their export from Georgia and/or their transfer to a foreign state on the basis of an international treaty of Georgia, the Government of Georgia, on the submission of the ministry, is authorized to give consent, by order, to the issuing of the permit without the procedures provided for by the law.