This article analyses the new German cultural property law in the context of EU law and the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the protection of cultural property. The analysis starts by looking at the circumstances that led to the 2016 reform of Germany’s cultural property law. It then widens the perspective by looking at the overall legal framework of the Single European Market (SEM) in the context of the free movement of goods and the protection of cultural property. Both, the new Directive 2014/60/EU on the return of cultural property as well as the EU Regulation 116/2009 on the export of cultural property are scrutinized with a specific focus on their impact in shaping and developing national cultural property law. Specific focus is placed on the divergent notions of “national treasures” and “national patrimony” in Article 36 of the EU Treaty. On the basis of this overall legal framework, the four pillars of the 2016 German cultural property reform are described. The article concludes by showing what is lacking in current EU law: an import regulation for cultural property. Without such an import regulation, the 1970 UNESCO Convention cannot have full effect in the SEM and its EU Member States.

This article analyses the new German cultural property law in the context of EU law and the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the protection of cultural property. The analysis starts by looking at the circumstances that led to the 2016 reform of Germany’s cultural property law. It then widens the perspective by looking at the overall legal framework of the Single European Market (SEM) in the context of the free movement of goods and the protection of cultural property. Both, the new Directive 2014/60/EU on the return of cultural property as well as the EU Regulation 116/2009 on the export of cultural property are scrutinized with a specific focus on their impact in shaping and developing national cultural property law. Specific focus is placed on the divergent notions of “national treasures” and “national patrimony” in Article 36 of the EU Treaty. On the basis of this overall legal framework, the four pillars of the 2016 German cultural property reform are described. The article concludes by showing what is lacking in current EU law: an import regulation for cultural property. Without such an import regulation, the 1970 UNESCO Convention cannot have full effect in the SEM and its EU Member States.