ESLI is currently in the process of cooperating with the EU Committee on Legal Affairs to introduce a legislative initiative into the European Parliament, with the predominant aim of promoting provenance research and combatting the trafficking of plundered cultural heritage. On Monday 14th September 2015, the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Union will officially appoint a special rapporteur to work closely with ESLI and our partners in drafting, and ultimately introducing to the European Parliament, legislation mandating provenance research as a necessary prerequisite for collection mobility funding within the European Union as a means of strengthening existing cultural heritage protection practices.
This initiative will be inaugurated with a half day workshop for members of the Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission and the Committee for Cultural Affairs of the Council of the European Union, hosted by the Czech Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels on Tuesday 15th September 2015. This workshop will be followed by the official opening of an exhibition on provenance research and cultural heritage protection at the European Parliament on the evening of Tuesday 15th September, and will culminate with a conference on the same subject matter for Members of the European Parliament on Wednesday 16th September. This initiative is being sponsored by Mr. Pavel Svoboda MEP – Chair of the Committee of Legal Affairs – in cooperation with the Committee on Culture and Education and UNESCO, and is supported by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, Sotheby’s, and the #Unite4Heritage campaign.
