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House Adopts The Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act

The Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act passed the House of Representatives late this afternoon. H.R. 889, which received broad bipartisan support by legislators in Congress, now goes to the Senate.

The committee report accompanying the legislation explained that “a provision in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) discourages foreign governments from lending government-owned artwork and objects of cultural significance to U.S. museums and educational institutions for temporary exhibition or display. Foreign governments are discouraged from such lending by the possibility that it will open them up to litigation in U.S. courts for which they would  otherwise be immune. This legislation fixes this problem by making a narrowly tailored change to FSIA.”

The House adopted similar versions of the bill in the past, most recently in May 2014, but the bills failed to become law.

The CHL blog penned an argument in favor of this legislation in 2012.

The video below, courtesy of C-Span and clipped by CHL, shows today’s floor debate.

 

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©2010-2022 Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire. Content discussing cultural heritage law, art law, looted antiquities, stolen artifacts, and museum risk management that is general information only, not legal advice.

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