United Kingdom

In England, Wales and Scotland fossils are part of the land and belong to its owner. Collecting on a beach below the high-water mark is on Crown Estate or local-authority foreshore and is tolerated as a customary right on most coasts; collecting on cliffs, in quarries and on farmland needs the owner's permission. There is no national fossil permit and no state claim on finds, which is why British material is freely sold.

The West Dorset Fossil Collecting Code (Lyme Regis to Charmouth to Burton Bradstock) is the model everyone cites: collect from the beach and from fallen material; do not dig into the cliffs (dangerous and prohibited); collect responsibly and in moderation; and record scientifically important finds with the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre, which issues a recording certificate that travels with the specimen. Recorded finds remain the finder's property; the code's aim is that the important ones can be studied and are offered to museums when sold. Scotland has a NatureScot Scottish Fossil Code with the same principles.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are the legal overlay: many classic localities are SSSIs and the notification lists operations that need consent from Natural England, NatureScot or Natural Resources Wales — hammering in situ rock is often one of them, while collecting loose material is often allowed. National Nature Reserves and National Trust land have their own byelaws. Wren's Nest, the Isle of Wight cliffs and the Yorkshire coast each have local codes.

Export from the UK: fossils over 50 years old and above a value threshold need an Arts Council export licence under the Waverley criteria in principle, though ordinary commercial fossils are far below the threshold; significant specimens (a new ichthyosaur, a type specimen) can be stopped. Ivory: the Ivory Act 2018 bans dealing in elephant ivory with narrow exemptions, and the 2024 extension adds hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal, orca and sperm whale; mammoth ivory is not covered.