Cultural Property

MLA's work on cultural property includes:

Acceptance in Lieu

The Acceptance in Lieu scheme enables taxpayers to transfer important works of art and other important heritage objects into public ownership while paying Inheritance Tax, or one of its earlier forms. The taxpayer is given the full open market value of the item, which then becomes the property of a public museum, archive or library.

Cultural Property Advice

MLA, with support from the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), has launched a new website.  Cultural Property Advice: your guide to buying, selling and collecting art, antiques and antiquities, which was commissioned from Hopkins van Mil, is intended to address the needs of the trade, including individual dealers and auction houses, private individuals and museums, archives and libraries. 

Export Licensing Unit

The Export Licensing Unit issues, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Culture, licences to export cultural goods. Certain cultural objects more than 50 years of age and valued above specified financial thresholds require an individual licence for export out of the UK whether on a permanent or temporary basis.

Government Indemnity Scheme

The Government Indemnity Scheme offers an alternative to the cost of commercial insurance and is available to museums, galleries and libraries within the UK when borrowing works of art and objects for exhibitions and for long-term loan. It provides the public with access to world class exhibitions and objects which might otherwise not be available.

Immunity from Seizure

Part 6 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcements Act 2007 provides immunity from seizure for cultural objects which are loaned from overseas to temporary public exhibitions in approved museums or galleries in the UK where conditions are met when the object enters the UK.

Private Treaty Sales

A Private Treaty Sale is the purchase by a public museum or gallery in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland of an item which has been granted Conditional Exemption from Inheritance Tax (or one of its pre-decessors), at a price which is beneficial to both public purchaser and private vendor.

Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art

The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest  is an independent body which advises the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria.