Customs, Excise and VAT fraud reporting
Resource
If you have any suspicions about an object and you believe a criminal offence has been committed, you should report it to the Customs Hotline.
Acquiring cultural property
Any individual working with cultural heritage in public or commercial organisations has an ethical and legal duty to buy and sell cultural property honestly. In cultural heritage organisations, acquisition will be through purchase, donation or bequest and in commercial organisations acquisition will be through purchase. In either case organisations must be confident that the objects they are acquiring have a good provenance, are owned by the person offering the object, and are not being offered as a result of illicit trade.
- During acquisition, organisations must practice due diligence by:
- Understanding all ethical and legal responsibilities.
- Following up all lines of enquiry to establish the ownership and history of the object.
- Keeping an audit trail of all enquiries and object documentation.
- In addition public sector organisations must practice due diligence by:
- Following sector standards for acquisition, including SPECTRUM, Pre-entry Procedure, Object Entry Procedure and Acquisition Procedure, and have appropriate policies in place.
- If you have any suspicions about an object and you believe a criminal offence has been committed, you should report it to the Customs Hotline.
Acquiring objects – due diligence checklist
Resource
This checklist will help you follow up lines of enquiry to establish the ownership and history of the object you are acquiring. It is a useful checklist for both cultural heritage and commercial organisations.