Trade’s challenge to compulsory online antiquities database fails

The Israeli high court has rejected a request by the country’s antiquities dealers to overturn a law requiring them to document their inventory online. It is hoped the new system will help stop illegal trafficking, as it will be difficult for dealers to add objects without proper provenance. Speaking after the court ruling, Radwan Badihi, a legal adviser for the Israel Antiquities Authority, told the Israel National News: “The court’s ruling has put an end to years of ongoing damage to cultural assets and will place Israel in line with the civilised countries of the world in protecting the nation’s cultural heritage.” However, some experts say that very few countries operate such registration systems. Kate Fitz Gibbon, a US lawyer specialising in cultural property, says Japan has perhaps the most “civilised” cultural property legislation. “In Japan, objects of cultural heritage are registered to keep track of them and only the most important are completely prohibited from export. The most likely problems that will result in Israel are from the difficulty of documenting the thousands of identical, low-value objects such as coins.”