[meteorite-list] Ownership of Meteorites - Part 2 of 2

From: Bernd Pauli HD <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:54:03 2004
Message-ID: <3C66CEF2.39A057B8_at_lehrer1.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de>

SCHMITT D.G. et al. (2001) Law of ownership and control
of meteorites (MAPS 36-9, 2001, A183, cont.):

Denmark:

Finds are state property, and must be surrendered to a museum, which
pays market value.

India:

Meteorites are deemed owned by the Geological Survey of India, without
compensation.

Japan:

The finder is the owner under the civil code.

Switzerland:

Finds are owned by the state but the finder is paid compensation not
higher than the object’s value.

United States of America:

A find is owned by the landowner. A find on federal government property
is owned by the Department of the Interior but may be acquired by the
Smithsonian Institution.

UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit
Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property:

This Convention, ratified by over 90 states, provides for tracking and
retrieving from reciprocating states, cultural property including
meteorites. Ratifying states may create a permitting agency like
Canada’s.

Antarctic Meteorites:

The Antarctic Treaty indefinitely defers national territorial claims and
encourages cooperative scientific exploration. Article III (B) states,
“scientific observations and results from Antarctica shall be exchanged
and made freely available”. The Treaty does not deal with samples
exported. Meteorites are recovered only by government sponsored
expeditions, and curated by NASA in the United States, the National
Institute of Polar Research in Japan, and by EUROMET. Applications for
U.S. curated samples are reviewed by the Meteorite Working Group.

Conclusions:

Meteorite ownership law varies widely. Generally survey respondents
reported cooperation from finders, to whom some compensation was paid
whether required or not; however there were incidents of important
meteorites, or find data, being lost to science. The best system for
each country depends on the relationship between each government and its
citizens. Governments should be urged to enact workable laws appropriate
to their jurisdiction to:

(1) encourage collection by providing reasonable incentives to finders,
with mandatory find reporting,

(2) create efficient export permitting systems allowing exchange of
research samples, and

(3) retrieve illegally exported meteorites under the UNESCO Convention.


Best regards,

Bernd
Received on Sun 10 Feb 2002 02:50:10 PM PST