§ Lord BEAUMONT of WHITLEY asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ Whether they will specify the difficulties raised for Britain by ratification of the UNESCO Convention on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import and export of cultural property.
Lord GORON WY-ROBERTSMHer Majesty's Government would find difficulty in carrying into legislative and practical effect those provisions in the Convention concerning import control and related measures. There is no provision in the laws of the United Kingdom for proceedings to be taken against persons 523 suspected of having infringed the export controls of other countries, unless there are grounds for believing that a particular object is stolen property or that the law of the United Kingdom has been otherwise broken. The Convention calls for the implementation of measures to supplement the export controls of other countries. The difficulty would be to distinguish at the point of importation those goods which have infringed the laws or export controls of other countries.