THE RESTITUTION OF CULTURAL GOODS AND EUROPEAN CIVIL PROCEDURAL LAW

Abstract

Following the introductory reference to the system of legal protection of cultural goods in the EU, the author comes forth with procedures of restitution of cultural goods under EU law. The paper deals with procedures governed by the Brussels I Regulation and the Directive on restitution of unlawfully removed cultural goods. Conceptual differences among restitution procedures are shown. The aim of the paper is to find the correlation between two restitution procedures. By analysing and comparing two sources of EU law, the author concludes that the Brussels I Regulation is based on the concept of private-law restitution of cultural goods. On the other hand, the Directive on restitution caters for mutual recognition of the Member States’ public laws. Thus, one may conclude that EU law recognizes two different but still complementary restitution procedures. Introduction of the special jurisdiction for restitution of cultural goods pursuant to Art. 7 (4) of the Brussels I Regulation as well as the automatic recognition of judgements are considered a significant contribution of the EU Civil Procedural Law to the efficient protection of cultural goods. Nevertheless, the paper tackles some critical issues in current solutions and puts forward certain improvements of both linguistic and material nature.