[meteorite-list] Re: Canadian Meteorite Export Law

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:54:07 2004
Message-ID: <200202200143.RAA20278_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

>
> I just finished writing an E-mail to my MP about the law banning the
> exportation of meteorites from Canada. I urge all of you who are Canadian to
> do so also. The problem is that because it is illegal to sell meteorites
> found in Canada, there is no incentive for people to search.

There has been some discussion about this. It is not illegal to sell or
export meteorites found in Canada. Meteorites have been legally sold from Canada (ie:
Tagish Lake). You just need to obtain an export license, and any Canadian citizen
may apply for one.

The Canadian legislation that governs this is called the Cultural Property
Export and Import Act, and it went into effect in Canada on September 6, 1977.
The Act was enacted to regulate the import and export of cultural property.
The key word here is "regulate". The act has its roots in a 1970 UNESCO
convention (in case you didn't know, UNESCO is a United Nations organization).
The main purpose of the convention was to combat illicit traffic in cultural
property. There are eight categories of cultural property that the
Canadian Act applies to (and the Act used the UNESCO definition of cultural
property). Cultural property includes meteorites, fossils, military objects,
applied and decorative art, fine art and archaeology objects, just to name a
few. The Act does allow for the export of these items from Canada,
but a cultural property export permit is required. Such a permit can be
obtained for meteorites, and meteorites can and have been legally exported
from Canada.

I'd suggest taking a look at this home page for more information
on Canada's Movable Cultural Property Program:

http://www.pch.gc.ca/arts/heritage/mcp_e.htm

Ron Baalke
Received on Tue 19 Feb 2002 08:43:05 PM PST