Artworks and antiquities don’t always stay put. They travel. That’s why art law demands a little more from its practitioners. Unlike some legal niches, it requires not just knowledge of local statutes, but an international mindset. A solicitor dealing in local corporate transactions can survive without ever thinking about Chinese export laws or UNESCO conventions. An art lawyer cannot.
Navigating international cultural heritage law requires knowledge of a patchwork of legal systems. Some are straightforward, others less so. China falls into the latter category. With its vast history and evolving political priorities, understanding its cultural property laws is uniquely challenging. With China’s latest overhaul of its Cultural Property Protection Law, the landscape has changed yet again.
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Archived version. Originally posted on Fieldfisher. Read more here.
Pierre Valentin, Patrick McGranaghan