Comment on DOS-2026-0628-0001

Dear Dr. Jones and Members of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee to the President: The Committee for Cultural Policy and Global Heritage Alliance jointly submit the testimony attached below on the Government of Romania’s request for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act, 19 U.S.C. §§ 2601–2613, between the United States and Romania. We have addressed below whether the request meets the legal criteria set by Congress for and MOU and import restrictions under the Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA). The undersigned organizations submit this comment opposing the request by the Government of Romania for a bilateral agreement imposing U.S. import restrictions on archaeological and ethnological materials. Romania submitted its request on October 3, 2024 and a subsequent Federal Register notice stated that public comments should address the CPIA determinations. Such determinations are not meant to be general policy preferences. Under U.S. law, they are statutory preconditions, all four of which must be met in order for the committee to make a recommendation for a cultural property agreement. The President may enter a bilateral agreement if the cultural patrimony is in jeopardy from pillage; the requesting state has taken Convention-consistent protective measures; U.S. import restrictions would substantially deter a serious situation of pillage and less drastic remedies are unavailable; and the restrictions are consistent with international interchange for scientific, cultural, and educational purposes. The statute also requires that the request be accompanied by “a written statement of the facts” relating to those determinations, and that the United States seek commitments permitting exchange where it does not jeopardize patrimony. None of these criteria have been met. In the first decades of the CPAC committee’s existence, this written statement of the facts by the requesting country was shared with the public – presumably so the public comments could better address the country’s needs and claims. After the administration of the CPAC committee was moved to the Department of State, the practice changed, with the State Department itself editing the requests down to a few uninformative sentences. It happens that Romania is an EU member state with an exceptionally diverse heritage. Romania also has a dense heritage bureaucracy and a restrictive legal regime, but both Romanian and EU analyses described below show chronic underfunding, weak implementation, inadequate attention to archaeology, a lack of museum support, and U.S. import records show a very small U.S. market for Romanian ancient art and artifacts. The data also raises serious concerns that a broad “Romanian” designated list would sweep in the cultural materials of minority communities whose history is not in parallel with the leaders of the modern Romanian state. Our full testimony is attached. Thank you for your attention.