Easier circulation for works of art of low value

Easier international circulation for works of art of low value. The Constitutional Court, in ruling 51, filed yesterday, has decided a number of questions of constitutional legitimacy raised by the Regional Administrative Tribunal of Lazio on "antique works of art" (of a deceased author, created more than 70 years ago) with a value of less than 13,500 euros. The censured regulations exclude these works both from the possibility for the interested party to have works temporarily imported into Italy from abroad certified and from the administration's power to compulsorily acquire those works, permanently present in Italy, destined for export abroad. The Court held that the questions on certification were well-founded and those on compulsory acquisition were unfounded.

Article 72(1) of the Cultural Heritage Code was therefore declared constitutionally illegitimate insofar as it does not provide that the entry into the national territory of antique works with a value of less than 13,500 euro must be certified at the request of the interested party.

In particular, the judgement highlighted the inequality in the treatment of temporarily imported antique works of art, depending on whether they have a value above or below the threshold: the certification provided only for works with a value above 13.500 euros, and the resulting favourable regime (i.e. the application of a facilitated procedure for the re-export of the object abroad and the exemption from the protection of Italy's cultural heritage during its temporary stay in Italy), is unreasonablyprohibited for objects of lower value, destined to circulate between national borders more frequently and easily.

The declaration of constitutional illegitimacy was also extended to the rule that excludes certification to works of living authors or works created byless than 70 years old.

Finally, the legislative choice to limit the power of compulsory purchase only to objects of ancient art (permanently present in Italy) worth more than €13,500 constitutes a not unreasonable balancing act between the protection of cultural heritage and the protection of the right of ownership; moreover, it does not jeopardise the good performance of the administration in terms of the effective exercise of the protection function.