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National treasure (classification)

Status of a cultural good the State bars from leaving the territory for thirty months while it assembles a purchase offer.

Definition

In France, refusal of an export certificate bars exit for thirty months, and the good is called a national treasure. The State may make a purchase offer; if the owner turns it down, two experts, one named by each side, set the price. If the State makes no offer at that price, the certificate can no longer be refused and the work leaves. If the owner rejects an offer at the appraised value, the refusal is renewed, with no compensation. For the insurer, the classification changes liquidity more than risk. An agreed value built on a worldwide market price is open to challenge for a good that has only one buyer, the State. If a partial loss occurs during the period, restoration is funded or refused according to how the negotiation ends. The acquiring museum's curator also joins the condition reports. Policies do not pay the lost chance of selling abroad.

Its 6 cross-references, woven across the glossary's 18 categories
National treasure (classification): Law & regulation glossary illustration, AlgoPolis
Example

Textbook case: an illuminated manuscript insured at 2 million euros is classified a national treasure. The State offers 1.4 million. The owner refuses; twenty-two months later an escape of water soaks the binding. The policy pays for restoration, but not the 600,000 euro gap between the State's offer and the declared value.

Read next
Law & regulationCultural goods export licenseDocument the State issues, or refuses, before a cultural good above the age and value thresholds leaves the territory.Read the entry →Law & regulationGovernment indemnity for exhibitionsA state's commitment to reimburse the lender for loss of or damage to a work lent to a public exhibition, in place of all or part of commercial insurance, to reduce the cost of major exhibitions.Read the entry →Law & regulationRestitution of colonial-era cultural propertyThe return to countries of origin of objects acquired during the colonial period under contested conditions, which creates lasting uncertainty for museums and collectors over title to some collections.Read the entry →
Related terms
Also known as

national treasure status, national treasure classification, designated national treasure, cultural property export bar

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