{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/return-of-cultural-objects-regulations-1994/regulation-6",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/return-of-cultural-objects-regulations-1994/regulation-6.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1994/501",
  "legislation_title": "The Return of Cultural Objects Regulations 1994",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/return-of-cultural-objects-regulations-1994",
  "path": "regulation/6",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "6",
  "heading": "Member State’s right to take proceedings",
  "text": "(1) Subject to the provisions of this Regulation, a member State shall have a right of action against the possessor or, failing him, the holder, for the return of a cultural object which has been unlawfully removed from its territory.\n(2) Proceedings under this Regulation may not be brought if removal from the national territory of the member State is no longer unlawful at the time when they are to be initiated.\n(3) Proceedings under this Regulation shall be brought in the High Court of Northern Ireland.\n(4) The document initiating the proceedings must be accompanied by—\n(a) a document describing the object covered by the request and stating that it is a cultural object;\n(b) a declaration by the competent authorities of the member State that the object has been unlawfully removed from its territory.\n(5) Subject to paragraph (6) below, the court shall order the return of the object where it finds it—\n(a) to be the cultural object covered by the request; and\n(b) to have been removed unlawfully from the national territory of the member State.\n(6) The court shall not make an order for the return of the object if it is satisfied—\n(a) that the proceedings were brought more than three years after the competent central authority of the requesting member State became aware of the location of the cultural object and of the identity of its possessor or holder; or\n(b) that they were brought after the expiry of the special limitation period.\n(7) The special limitation period in the case—\n(a) of objects forming part of public collections, referred to in Article 2(8) of the Directive; and\n(b) of objects belonging to inventories of ecclesiastical or other religious institutions subject to special protection arrangements under the national law of the member State,\nis the period of 75 years commencing with the date on which the object was unlawfully removed from the territory of the requesting member State.\n(8) In any other case the special limitation period is the period of 30 years commencing with that date.\n(9) The rules set out in the preceding three paragraphs have effect in place of any other rule as to the limitation of actions.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Regulations revoked (E.W.S.) (31.12.2020) by The Return of Cultural Objects (Revocation) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1086), regs. 1, 2(a) (with regs. 4, 5) (as amended by S.I. 2020/975, regs. 1, 2(2) and S.I. 2020/1458, regs. 1(2), 2(2)); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in reg. 6(3) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Return of Cultural Objects (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1458), regs. 1(3), 3(3)(c)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words in reg. 6(6)(a) substituted (18.12.2015) by The Return of Cultural Objects (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/1926), art. 1, reg. 2(6)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "Words in reg. 6(7)(a) substituted (18.12.2015) by The Return of Cultural Objects (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/1926), art. 1, reg. 2(7)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "Words in reg. 6(7)(b) substituted (18.12.2015) by The Return of Cultural Objects (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/1926), art. 1, reg. 2(8)"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "Reg. 6 in force at 2.3.1994, see reg. 1(2)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1994/501/regulation/6",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T13:40:11.214846+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}