1970년 유네스코 협약 이행법제의 현황과 실무

The 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (hereinafter “UNESCO Convention of 1970”) was adopted at the General Assembly of UNESCO on November 14, 1970. The UNESCO Convention of 1970 was the outcome of nationalism approved by the member countries of UNESCO after 10 years long discussions. The UNESCO Convention of 1970 is one of the first Convention to provide solution for the protection of cultural properties. The preamble of the UNESCO Convention of 1970 considers “that it is incumbent upon every State to protect the cultural property existing within its territory against the dangers of theft, clandestine excavation, and illicit export...” and Article 1 of the UNESCO Convention of 1970 prescribes that “For the purposes of this Convention, the term ‘cultural property’ means property which, on religious or secular grounds, is specifically designated by each State as being of importance for archaeology, prehistory, history, literature, art or science...” Therefore, the scope of cultural properties under the UNESCO Convention of 1970 is determined by the specific designation of each contracting country. The UNESCO Convention of 1970 gave up the uniform categorization of cultural properties. Instead, it left each contracting country the wide discretion to designate cultural properties subject to its application. It is in line with the wordings of the Preamble of the UNESCO Convention of 1970, stating “that cultural property constitutes one of the basic elements of civilization and national culture, and that its true value can be appreciated only in relation to the fullest possible information regarding is origin, history and traditional setting,” In this regard, the definition of cultural properties is supplemented by Article 4 of the UNESCO Convention of 1970 states that “The States Parties to this Convention recognize that for the purpose of the Convention property which belongs to the following categories forms part of the cultural heritage of each State...” In sum, the UNESCO Convention of 1970 is basically applied to cultural properties specifically designated by each contracting State. This Article explores the current developments and practices of domestic law implementing the UNESCO Convention of 1970 from the perspective of comparative law and discusses how to reform it.