Colombia: artifacts

Colombia vests archaeological material in the state. Archaeological heritage belongs to the nation; export prohibited except temporary. The governing law is Ley 397 de 1997 (Ley General de Cultura); Ley 1185 de 2008; the date Stratum treats as decisive is 1997 (the year of enactment — the exact commencement has not been checked, so the conservative reading is used). An object documented outside Colombia before that date is sold with the document cited; one documented only later is sold with a warning that Colombia could regard the export as unlawful, and the ownership history stated in full; one with no provenance at all is not listed.

The United States restricts import of Colombia archaeological material of 1500 BCE – 1530 CE and ecclesiastical ethnological material c. 1530–1830 under the CPIA (CBP Dec. 06-09; extended CBP Dec. 26-05, restricted since 2006). Entry needs the export certificate or proof the object left Colombia before 2006. Domestic resale of material already lawfully in the US is not restricted by this, but the paper is what a buyer will ask for.

US courts have applied foreign patrimony laws through the National Stolen Property Act (United States v. McClain, 1977; United States v. Schultz, 2003): an object exported after a clear vesting law can be stolen property in the United States even when no US import restriction existed at the time. The date of the earliest document that places an object outside Colombia is therefore the single most valuable fact on its record.