The EU says the regulation is designed to “ensure the effective protection against illicit trade in cultural goods and against their loss or destruction” and to serve “the prevention of terrorist financing and money laundering through the sale of pillaged cultural goods to buyers in the union."
Some concerns have been raised about the new import regulation. Vincent Geerling, the chairman of the International Association of Dealers in Ancient Art, says the regulation includes “a number of highly controversial points that will have serious implications for the trade, as well as collectors, if enforced.”
