FELIPE VI

KING OF SPAIN

To all who present it and understand it.

Sabed: That the General Courts have approved and I come to sanction the following law:

PREAMBLE

The articulation of European cultural policy is rooted in Article 151 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, which states that "the Community shall contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States". In the context of respect for their national and regional diversity, at the same time highlighting the common cultural heritage. " By virtue of the above, Member States retain the right to define what they regard as their national assets and to adopt the necessary provisions to ensure the protection of them.

The basis described helps to explain the fact that Article 36 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union indicates that the provisions of Articles 34 and 35 (relating to the abolition of all quantitative restrictions) on the import or export in an internal market in which freedom of movement is favoured), shall not preclude prohibitions or restrictions on the import, export or transit on grounds of public order, public morality and public security, protection of the health and life of people and animals, preservation of plants, protection of the national artistic, historical or archaeological heritage or protection of industrial and commercial property.

Estimating the desirability, therefore, of the introduction of a system which would allow Member States to return cultural goods classified within their national assets in accordance with that Article, and which have left their territory in breach of the Treaties or Council Regulation (EEC) No 3911/92 of 9 December 1992 on the export of cultural goods, adopted Council Directive 93 /7/EEC of 15 March 1992 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to: the return of cultural goods which have been unlawfully removed from the territory of a State Member of the European Union, with the intention of establishing in each State a system whose application would be as simple and effective as possible, while limiting the scope of application of the system to objects belonging to a series of common categories of cultural goods. The Directive was a first step towards cooperation between Member States in this field, in the context of the internal market with a view to achieving greater mutual recognition of the applicable national rules.

The Directive, which provided for an obligation for the return of goods which had been unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State, towards the responsibility of the holder or holder of the good, and provided for an obligation of cooperation and concertation for the Member State in whose territory the cultural object was to be found, entailing the failure to fulfil that obligation to refund the possibility of exercising a refund in respect of the the requesting State from the competent courts of the requested State.

The Directive referred to the restitution of cultural goods defined as goods classified as "national treasures with artistic, historical or archaeological value", in accordance with legislation or procedures national administrative authorities, provided that they belong to one of the categories listed in their Annex or form an integral part of the public collections which appear in the inventories of museums, archives or library conservation funds; or in those of ecclesiastical institutions.

The transposition of the Directive was implemented by Law 36/1994 of 23 December, incorporating the Spanish legal order of Council Directive 93 /7/EEC of 15 March on the return of the cultural goods which have been illegally removed from the territory of a Member State of the European Union.

Law 36/1994, of 23 December, was drawn up in the form of a brief law of a procedural nature, limited for the most part to the collection of only one section of the Community text. Precisely this lack of development has led to the use of the Community text by the applicators.

The law was amended by Law 18/1998 of 15 June, which incorporated Directive 96 /100/EEC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 February 1997 amending the Annex to Directive 93 /7/EEC, incorporating new classifications. This Directive was amended by Directive 2001 /38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2001, which introduced new provisions in the last paragraph of Section B of the Annex to Directive 93 /7/EEC, so that as from 1 January 2001, the Directive was amended as follows: January 2002 Member States whose currency is the euro shall directly apply the euro values provided for in Community legislation.

Despite all of the above, the countries ' low level of export refunds showed the important gaps in cooperation and consultation between the national central authorities. Documents such as the Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee of 21 December 2005 (second report on the implementation of Council Directive 93 /7/EEC) highlighted the frequency of application. The restrictions on seniority and pecuniary value in the categories of the Annex to the Directive, the indetermination of the bodies responsible for assessing the economic value, the problems of interpretation concerning the reference to the National collections and, in particular, the brevity of the time limit in which restitution claims could be filed and the costs related to them, formed a material scope of application that generated certain practical problems.

An earlier report (Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee of 25 May 2000 on the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3911/92 on the export of The Court held that the Court held that the Court held that the Court held that the Court held that the Court held that the Court held that the Court held that the Court held that the Court of Transposition of the Directive was of marginal importance on the reduction of trade (i) illegal cultural goods, stressing that better structuring of administrative cooperation and of the information that the authorities concerned should exchange could improve the results of the implementation of the Directive and the Regulation.

Particularly in Spain, the application of the Directive demonstrated the limitations of the system to obtain the return of cultural goods.

The previous reasons have led to the adoption of Directive 2014 /60/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on the return of cultural goods in the Community framework for the adoption of Directive 2014 /60/EU illegal territory of a Member State, and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012, which presents certain developments in its regulation.

First, the current Directive lacks an annex in which the goods are categorised. It also highlights the inclusion of the Internal Market Information System (IMI), which states that a special module specifically designed for cultural goods should be implemented with a view to a better and more uniform system. implementation of the Directive.

The designation of a central authority is also incorporated.

The deadline for verifying whether the cultural good discovered in another Member State constitutes a good in the sense described in the Directive, which becomes six months, is extended. In the same way, the time limit for exercising the refund is extended from one year to three years from the date on which the Member State from whose territory the cultural object was unlawfully removed was aware of the place in which it was he found the good and the identity of his holder or holder. Finally, a specific mention is requested of "other religious institutions", clear guidelines for the determination of the existence or due diligence are established, and the deadlines for submitting the relevant report to the European Commission in particular following the "Correction of errors of Directive 2014 /60/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on the return of cultural goods unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State" Member State, and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 ', published on 12 June 2001, on the 2015.

This law transposes Directive 2014 /60/EU, completing all the requirements of this Directive through the regulation of the action of restitution, the remission of the formalities for its exercise to the rules of Law 1/2000, of 7 of In the case of the Court of Justice, the Court of First Instance held that the Court of First Instance held that the Court of First Instance held that the Court of First Instance held that the Court of First Instance fair compensation that would eventually be met. Furthermore, the law contains the reference to the IMI system, and echoes the number of deadline changes prescribed by the Directive.

Article 1. Object.

This law aims to regulate the conditions for the restitution of cultural objects that have left the Spanish territory illegally and are located in the territory of another Member State of the European Union, as well as of the a refund action which may be brought before the Spanish authorities on goods which have been unlawfully removed from a territory of another Member State of the European Union and which are located on Spanish territory.

Article 2. Definitions.

For the purposes of this law,

following definitions shall apply:

1. "Cultural good": the one that

(a) This classification, before or after it has been unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State of the European Union, as "artistic, historical or cultural heritage", in accordance with state or regional law or national administrative procedures within the framework of Article 36 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

b) It is included in the inventories of ecclesiastical institutions, forms part of public collections, or belongs to one of the categories that are related in Law 16/1985, of 25 June, of the Spanish Historical Heritage, in the laws which, in the field of historical or cultural heritage, have been approved by the Autonomous Communities in the exercise of their competence, in Council Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 of 18 December 2008 on the export of goods cultural, whether public or private, or in the own Directive 2014 /60/EU of the European Parliament European and Council of 15 May 2014 on the return of cultural goods which have been unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012, published on 12 June 2014. 2015.

2. "Public Collections": those formed by cultural goods which, being classified as public under the law of a Member State, are owned by that Member State, a local or regional authority of the or an institution located in its territory, provided that that institution is owned by that Member State or a local or regional authority, or is significantly funded by any of them.

3. "That you have illegally left the territory of a Member State":

(a) Having left the territory of a Member State in violation of its legislation on the protection of the national heritage understood as being constituted by its protected cultural assets of public ownership or private, or in breach of the provisions of Council Regulation (EC) No 116/2009, or

b) That it has not been returned to the term of a temporary exit made legally, or that any other condition of that temporary departure is violated.

4. "Requesting Member State" shall mean the Member State from which the cultural object has been unlawfully removed.

5. "required Member State" shall mean the Member State in whose territory a cultural object has been unlawfully removed from the territory of another Member State.

6. "Restitución": the material return of cultural good to the territory of the requesting Member State.

7. "possessor": the person who has the material possession of the cultural good on his own.

8. "Tenedor": the person who has the material possession of the cultural good for an employed person.

Article 3. Central authority.

1. The Secretariat of State of Culture, or the higher body of the General Administration of the State which at any time assumes its powers in matters of historical heritage, shall be considered as the central authority.

2. The competent central authority of the State shall cooperate and promote consultation between the competent national authorities of the Member States, with the task of being in particular:

(a) To locate, at the request of the requesting Member State, a specific cultural object which has been unlawfully removed from the territory of that Member State, and to identify the holder and/or holder thereof. The request must be accompanied by all the information useful to facilitate the search, especially the search for the actual or presumed location of the good.

b) Notify the Member States concerned, in the event of the discovery of cultural goods on their own territory, if there were reasonable grounds to assume that such goods have been unlawfully removed from the territory of another Member State.

(c) To facilitate the verification by the competent authorities of the requesting Member State that the good in question is a cultural asset, provided that the verification is carried out within six months of the notification provided for in paragraph (b). In the event that such accreditation is not carried out within the stipulated period, paragraphs (d) and (e) shall not apply.

(d) Adopt, in cooperation with the Member State concerned, the necessary measures for the material conservation of the cultural good.

e) Avoid, with the necessary precautionary measures, that the refund procedure is circumvented.

(f) Act as an intermediary between the holder or the holder and the requesting Member State in respect of the refund. In this regard, and without prejudice to Article 6, it may facilitate the application of an arbitration procedure in accordance with the national law of the requested Member State, provided that the requesting Member State and the holder or holder formally give their compliance.

3. Through the Spanish Historical Heritage Council, the collaboration of the competent bodies of the autonomous communities will be facilitated with those of the General Administration of the State.

Article 4. Internal Market Information System.

Through the Internal Market Information System (IMI), the competent central authority of the State shall cooperate with the other central authorities of the Member States of the European Union. It may also disclose relevant information relating to cases concerning cultural goods that have been stolen or illegally removed from its territory, respecting in any case the guarantees provided by the Organic Law 15/1999, 13 December, Protection of Personal Data.

Article 5. Competent Spanish courts.

They are competent to know of the action of restitution of cultural objects that have come out illegally from a Member State of the European Union and that the organs of the civil jurisdictional order are found in Spanish territory, in accordance with the provisions of the procedural and civil laws.

Article 6. Applicable process.

The processes resulting from the exercise of the restitution action before the Spanish courts will be governed by the provisions of Law 1/2000, of January 7, of Civil Procedure, in everything not provided for in this law, and will be dealt with by the rules established in verbal judgments with the specialties contained in the following articles.

Article 7. Legitimization.

1. The State, acting as the applicant, may bring an action for the refund against the holder and, failing that, against the holder of the cultural object which has unlawfully removed his territory from the competent courts of the Member State concerned. required.

2. Only the Member States of the European Union from whose territory the cultural object has been unlawfully removed shall be legitimate for the exercise of the refund action.

3. Only those who have the possession or the simple tenure of the well claimed shall be passively legitimized.

Article 8. Object of the backout action.

The action will refer exclusively to the restitution of the cultural good, without it being able to extend to issues that can be claimed through civil, criminal or other actions that may proceed from agreement with the Spanish legal order.

Article 9. Deadlines for the backout action.

1. The exercise of the refund shall be prescribed within three years from the date on which the competent central authority of the requesting Member State has been informed of the place in which the cultural and cultural good were situated. identity of the holder or holder of the holder.

2. In any event, the refund shall be prescribed within 30 years from the date on which the cultural object has been unlawfully removed from the territory of the requesting Member State.

3. By way of derogation from the preceding paragraph, the action for the return of goods belonging to public collections and goods included in the inventories of ecclesiastical institutions or other religious institutions which are subject to a special scheme of protection under the law of the requesting State shall be prescribed within a period of seventy-five years, except that in the framework of bilateral agreements with the Member State a longer period has been established, or that the legislation the applicant State provides for the imprinting of the action.

Article 10. Admission of the claim.

1. The application must be accompanied by:

(a) A document describing the claimed good and certifying that it is a well-classified as a cultural asset in accordance with the definition of Article 2 of this Law.

(b) A declaration by the competent authorities of the requesting State that the cultural good has left its territory illegally and that this circumstance persists at the time of the application.

2. In the case of a temporary issue which has been lawfully carried out in an illegal situation, the application must specify whether it is a breach of the obligation to return, after the expiry of the period or the infringement of any of the the other conditions of such temporary dispatch.

3. The Judge, ex officio and without a hearing of the parties, shall give self-admission of the application for failure to accompany the documents referred to in the preceding paragraphs or where the declaration of the competent authorities referred to in point (b) of the paragraph 1 does not prove that the exit of the cultural good is still illegal at the time of the filing of the claim.

4. The central authority of the requesting Member State shall without delay inform the competent central authority of the requested Member State of the lodging of the application for the refund of the object concerned. Such information shall be provided through IMI in accordance with the applicable legislative provisions on the protection of personal data, without prejudice to the use of other means of communication.

The competent central authority of the requested Member State shall inform the central authorities of the other Member States without delay.

Article 11. The contents of the statement.

1. The Judge shall order the material return of the cultural good to the territory of the requesting Member State, provided that it is proved that it is a cultural object and that its departure from the territory of the requesting State has been illegal.

2. The same judgment shall give the holder compensation which he considers to be equitable in the light of the circumstances of the proceedings, provided that the holder has acquired the good in good faith and proves that he has employed the due at the time of acquisition.

To determine whether the holder acted with due diligence, all circumstances of the acquisition, in particular the documentation on the provenance of the good, the exit authorizations required by the holder, shall be taken into account. Right of the requesting Member State, in which quality the parties act, the price paid, the consultation by the holder of the accessible records on stolen cultural goods and any other relevant information which could reasonably have been obtain or any other management which a reasonable person has carried out on the same circumstances.

3. In the case of donation or succession, the holder may not enjoy a more favourable regime than the person who has acquired the good in that regard.

4. An appeal may be brought against the judgments handed down in these proceedings.

Article 12. Property of good after refund.

The property of the cultural good after its return shall be governed by the domestic law of the requesting Member State.

Article 13. Equitable compensation and expenses.

1. Where the State acts as the applicant, it shall satisfy the equitable compensation referred to in Article 11 (2) at the time when the refund judgment is signed, including the amount of the refund and the costs incurred by the applicant. conservation of the cultural good claimed.

2. In the event that the requesting State is another Member State, the satisfaction of the equitable compensation shall be the prerequisite for the execution of the judgment.

3. The costs resulting from the execution of the judgment ordering the return of the cultural good shall be borne by the requesting Member State.

4. The payment of the fair compensation and the costs arising from the execution of the judgment shall not affect the right of the requesting Member State to claim the reimbursement of those amounts to the persons responsible for the illegal exit of the goods. cultural of its territory.

Article 14. Report on the implementation of the Law transposing Directive 2014 /60/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014.

No later than 18 December 2020, and then every five years, the Government will present to the European Commission a report on the implementation of this Law.

Additional disposition first. Implementation of the European Economic Area.

In the event and time when they comply with Directive 2014 /60/EU, of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on the return of cultural goods which have been unlawfully removed from the the territory of a Member State of the European Union, and amending Regulation EU No 1024/2012, this law shall apply to the Member States of the European Economic Area which are not integrated into the European Union, having all the the condition of states that are required or required.

Additional provision second. Scope of temporary application.

This law will also apply to illegal departures from the territory of the Member States produced before 1 January 1993, with the limitation period referred to in Article 9 being calculated from the date of entry into force. force of this law.

Single repeal provision. Regulatory repeal.

The entry into force of this law shall be repealed with all provisions of equal or lower rank that are contrary to the provisions of this law, and in particular the following:

-Law No 36/1994 of 23 December on the incorporation into the Spanish legal system of Council Directive 93/7 EEC of 15 March on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State of the European Union.

-Royal Decree 211/2002 of 22 February 2002 updating certain values included in Law 36/1994 of 23 December on incorporation into the Spanish legal order of Council Directive 93 /7/EEC of 15 December 1992, of 15 December 1994, March on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State of the European Union.

Final disposition first. Competitive titles.

This law is issued pursuant to the provisions of Article 149.1.28, and 149.2 of the Spanish Constitution, with the exception of Articles 5 to 13, which are dictated by the exclusive powers of the State in matters of procedural law and civil legislation, as provided for in Articles 149.1.6. and 149.1.8. of the Spanish Constitution.

Final disposition second. Incorporation of European Union law.

This law incorporates into Spanish law Directive 2014 /60/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State. Member State of the European Union, and amending Regulation EU No 1024/2012.

Final disposition third. Entry into force.

This law shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the "Official Gazette of the State".

Therefore,

I command all Spaniards, individuals and authorities, to keep and keep this law.

Madrid, 18 April 2017.

FELIPE R.

The President of the Government,

MARIANO RAJOY BREY