The Devil is in the Details

Wayne Sayles on The Devil is in the Details (Ancient Coin Collecting Tuesday, April 25, 2017):

Although the "rules" of enforcement for the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CCPIA) are guided by the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the action agency is actually Homeland Security's U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Customs agents at every U.S. port of entry are trained, often by Archaeologists, to identify, detain and seize cultural property that is restricted from importation in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States and a foreign nation. The MOU is consummated and its scope determined, according to strict parameters of law, by the U.S. State Department (DOS) with guidance provided to CBP for implementation. Therein lies the devil—in the details of implementation. What may start out as a rational effort to protect cultural heritage can become a repressive and extralegal process that infringes on the rights of ordinary law abiding citizens.