Illegally exported cultural artifacts to be returned more easily

Cultural artifacts illegally exported from Slovakia are to be retrieved more easily and effectively, according to an amendment to the law on illegally exported cultural items that was approved by the parliamentary committee for culture and media on Thursday and has been recommended for approval in Parliament. A European regulation is to be transposed into the amendment that will give the state more power to reclaim cultural items if they have been exported. It covers all items that pertain to national cultural heritage and have artistic, historical or archaeological value regardless of whether they form part of public or private collections. In addition, the time limit for examining an item found to have been taken to another EU-member state is to be prolonged from two months after export to six months.