[ I received a letter yesterday from a subscriber who is concerned
 [ about government regulations in certain countries (including France)
 [ which claim a "right of preemption" to stop the export of articles
 [ which are deemed an important example of the country's national
 [ cultural heritage, i.e., the "national treasures".  See the articles
 [ by Tim Trager and Philippe Rouille in MMDs 991124 and 991125.
 [
 [ Philippe further explains below about the policy in France affecting
 [ articles sold privately and publicly, such as at the forthcoming
 [ auction in Chartres.   -- Robbie

Dear MMD's,  Although I believed that various postings to the MMD in
November 1999 had clarified the situation, it seems that a few points
need again to be emphasized.

Everything which follows is only my private opinion, and as I lack
time at the moment to do law research, I cannot guarantee 100% that
everything is absolutely exact (please do not sue me if I made a few
mistakes!), but roughly it describes the real situation.

1)  I am a bit surprised that such a question arises a few days before
an auction in France, an auction which -- in my opinion -- does not
present really exceptionally rare national treasures.  So, if you are
in the mood to bid, please do !

2)  Again, I must say that the official rules about the export of
"cultural goods" from France are well defined and well-known for years
now.  They may be different if you export inside the European
Community, or outside, but the general principles are not different.

3)  You must distinguish in France between a private treaty [contract
of sale] and a public auction.

a.  If you want to buy from a French private owner a piece which may be
considered as a national treasure (that means it is usually more in the
$50,000 range than in the $500 range, and it needs to be really
unique or to have a documented historical background), then _before
signing the contract_ you'd better ask the official museum services if
this piece may be exported or not.  If yes, they will (after usually 6
weeks delay) deliver a "passport" for the item, which allows it to be
exported.  If not, do not sign the contract !

b.  At a public auction, usually the auctioneer (or the consultant)
knows what he is selling (please do not smile!).

If he thinks an item might be a "national treasure" (usually worth
dozens of thousands dollars at least), he will ask for the "passport"
_before_ the auction.

If the passport is refused, it happens that the item (a picture by
Van Gogh worth 1 million dollars, for example), being obliged to stay
in France, fetches only one half of the price hoped for ...

In the case of the Dec 10th Chartres auction, there is -- in my opinion
-- no "national treasure" in the auction (although many pieces are
beautiful and fine, and I'd like a few items to be bought by museums
and to stay in France).

So you may bid without being obliged to keep the item you bought in
France !  (Which could actually give you the interesting idea of living
in our nice country.)

The only thing which may happen (but I do not expect it in this
auction, although, who can swear to it...) is that a museum uses its
"faculty of preemption", which means that the museum can substitute
itself to [in the place of] the last bidder, and can buy the object
at the hammer price.  That can happen in _every_ auction (and not only
in France, I believe), for _any_ item.

Actually, museums are not rich, and they use this faculty of preemption
only for rare items.  And as they want to keep a good relationship with
collectors (which often, when alive or after their death, give items to
museums), they try not to use this faculty when they may get the item
by bidding normally and discreetly ...

I hope this makes things clear.

Best regards,

Philippe Rouille  (Paris, France)
http://www.cnam.fr/museum/musica_mecanica/

 [ I searched the web using Alta Vista (www.altavista.com) for mention
 [ of "rights of preemption" or the French equivalent, "droit de
 [ preemption".  Among others, I learned that the Swiss city-state
 [ Geneva uses the term with regard to land development.
 [
 [ Hans van Oost says that an English language text of the legislation
 [ governing the Netherlands cultural heritage may be viewed at
 [   http://www.minocw.nl/cultuur/cubeleid/engels/ and
 [   http://www.minocw.nl/cultuur/cubeleid/engels/h43.htm
 [
 [ Hans also advises:
 [ " The European Union in Brussels has made some European regulations
 [ (supra-national) which may overrule local regulations.  The number
 [ of the ordinance is 3911/92 with a directive nr. 93/7.  A report on
 [ these regulations can be obtained in all languages of the Union.
 [ Please write or Email to Mr. Carlos G Videjo, Markt D-2, Wetstraat
 [ 2000, B-1049, Brussels (Belgium), E-mail: MarktD2@cec.eu.int "
 [
 [ Joyce Brite and I finished translating the English version of the
 [ catalog for the Chartres auction.  The files are temporarily at
 [ http://mmd.foxtail.com/Events/  but they will soon be moved to
 [ http://mmd.foxtail.com/Auctions/   -- Robbie