Smuggling of cultural property as a threat to the intellectual safety of the society: criminal law and its challenges

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to underpin the negative effect of smuggling of cultural objects on the intellectual safety of the society with regards to the illegal circulation and denied accessibility of cultural objects to the cultural heritage. The article analyses a legally correct circulation of cultural objects with accordance to legal framework of the Republic of Latvia and the European Union as well as role of Customs within it. The article evaluates preconditions of criminal liability for smuggling of cultural objects in accordance with the Criminal Law of the Republic of Latvia. By comparatively analysing international, regional and national laws and regulations, it is established, that applying of Articles 229 and 2291 of the Criminal Law of the Republic of Latvia in practice will be problematic with regards to difficulties in defining cultural objects as objects of criminal offence and defining the scope of “illegal export” as the incriminated activity. For Latvia as a member state of the European Union, the efforts of the European Union to promote protection of cultural heritage will mean to review the passed amendments of the Criminal Law of the Republic of Latvia, which have not yet come into force, in order to effectively address the illegal circulation of cultural objects. The theoretical criminal law issues assessed in this article have been determined applying an inductive research method, deriving them from individual cases of application of the law. The theoretical sources have been selected and theses have been grounded applying comparative research method. The conclusions have been made and the terms used in this article have been systematized applying logical research method.