The heritage of others? Who cares?: Attitudes towards Thai laws

concerning the illicit trafficking of foreign cultural heritage

Abhirada Komoot (Pook)EuraSEAA conference, Paris, 6-10 July 2015

Research Question

To what extent foreign cultural objects which were illegally traded can be protected by national laws

Research Objectives

To present the legal protection of foreign antiquity illicitly traded to Thailand

To point out gaps in Thai laws regarding illicit trafficking of cultural heritage from other countries

To raise awareness for better legislative provision for the protection of the heritage of others found in Thai territory

Research Scope

Foreign cultural objects illicitly transferred to Thailand's territory

The protection of such objects by Thai laws

Limitations

Organized crime

Difficult to gain statistic information

Referring to secondary sources and silent informants

Thai Law

Act on Ancient Monuments, Antiques, Objects of Art, B.E. 2504 (1961)

Approach of The Act: nationalism

Antiquity in Thai Law

Definition of 'Antique' (Sec 4 para 2)

An archaic movable property, whether produced by man or by nature, or being any part of ancient monument or of human skeleton or animal carcass which, by its age or characteristics of production or historical evidence, is useful in the field of art, history or archaeology

Ownership of Antiquity

Private-owned Objects

Proof of continuous possession

Bon Fide purchaser

Transferrable: trade, import, export, change of owner

Private law

Ownership of Antiquity(Sec 24)

State-owned Objects

Buried, concealed, abandoned,

Kingdom and EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone)

No one can claim for ownership

Untransferable (Sec 18)

Public law: Antiquity Act

Ownership of Antiquity(Sec 18 bis)

Registered private-owned objects

Special values in field of art, history or archaeology

Transferrable with limitation

Being controlled by Fine Arts Department rules and procedures

Foreign Cultural Objects

Two sections stating about transferring of cultural objects (Sec 22,23)

No section stating about import of foreign cultural objects

Gaps in Law

Leaving room for trade in foreign antiquity

Foreign cultural objects cannot be entitled as 'State property'

Possessor/Finder often claims for 'Bon Fide purchaser'

Gaps in Law

Ownership-based protection leaving Underwater Heritage (UCH) improper protected

UCH case ownership often an ambiguous issue

Finder might not even enter the state's land territory

Regulation

Ministerial Announcement of Ministry of Commerce regarding the import of antiquity originated from foreign countries into Kingdom of Thailand B.E. 2547 (2003)

Protected Objects

Buddha images

Deity images

Religious images

Part of ancient monuments

Ancient coins

Ancient inscriptions

Ancient accounts

Prehistoric tools, utensils and jewelries

Gaps in the Regulation

Specific protection to some objects categorized in the regulation

Not cover objects from the sea (UCH)

Gaps Concerning UCH objects

Chinese Ceramics

High market price

Gaps Concerning UCH Objects

Portuguese Canon

Melting to make new buddha image

New value added

Conclusion

Antiquity can be traded

Antiquity can be owned

Foreign antiquity has low priority

Conclusion

There should be law to make sure that imported objects were legally exported from other countries

abhirada.k@gmail.com

Thank you for your attention