2018 US Code
Title 19 - Customs Duties
Chapter 14 - Convention on Cultural Property
Sec. 2609 - Seizure and forfeiture

Any designated archaeological or ethnological material or article of cultural property, as the case may be, which is imported into the United States in violation of section 2606 of this title or section 2607 of this title shall be subject to seizure and forfeiture. All provisions of law relating to seizure, forfeiture, and condemnation for violation of the customs laws shall apply to seizures and forfeitures incurred, or alleged to have been incurred, under this chapter, insofar as such provisions of law are applicable to, and not inconsistent with, the provisions of this chapter.

Any designated archaeological or ethnological material which is imported into the United States in violation of section 2606 of this title and which is forfeited to the United States under this chapter shall—

No return of material may be made under paragraph (1) or (2) unless the State Party or claimant, as the case may be, bears the expenses incurred incident to the return and delivery, and complies with such other requirements relating to the return as the Secretary shall prescribe.

(1) In any action for forfeiture under this section regarding an article of cultural property imported into the United States in violation of section 2607 of this title, if the claimant establishes valid title to the article, under applicable law, as against the institution from which the article was stolen, forfeiture shall not be decreed unless the State Party to which the article is to be returned pays the claimant just compensation for the article. In any action for forfeiture under this section where the claimant does not establish such title but establishes that it purchased the article for value without knowledge or reason to believe it was stolen, forfeiture shall not be decreed unless—

(2) Any article of cultural property which is imported into the United States in violation of section 2607 of this title and which is forfeited to the United States under this chapter shall—

(Pub. L. 97–446, title III, §310, Jan. 12, 1983, 96 Stat. 2360.)

Section 2607 of this title, referred to in subsec. (c)(1), was in the original "section 208", and was translated as section 2607 of this title, which is section 308 of Pub. L. 97–446, as the probable intent of Congress.

Section effective on the 90th day after Jan. 12, 1983, or on any date which the President shall prescribe and publish in the Federal Register, with exceptions, see section 315 of Pub. L. 97–446, set out as a note under section 2601 of this title.