Study on preventing and fighting illicit trafficking in cultural goods in the European Union

The trafficking in cultural goods is among the biggest criminal trades, estimated by some to be the third or fourth largest, despite the fact that, as INTERPOL notes, there are hardly any instruments for measuring this trade or any data on illicit commerce. The information dossier that UNESCO produced for the 40th anniversary of the 1970 Convention observes that, together with the drugs and armaments trades, the black market in antiquities and culture constitutes one of the most firmly rooted illicit trades in the world. Despite the difficulty of obtaining statistics, the scale of this phenomenon calls for concentrated and convergent efforts on the part of States and at the European and international levels. At stake is the safeguarding of the heritage of States.