for participants in the Second Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention
Canada and the United States were among the first Western market nations to join the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (“1970 UNESCO Convention” or “1970 Convention”). The United States Senate gave its unanimous consent to ratification in 1972, but the United States did not deposit its instrument of ratification until 1983, after enacting the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (“CPIA”). Canada accepted the Convention in 1978 when it enacted provisions in its Cultural Property Export and Import Act (“CPEIA”) implementing the 1970 Convention. 3 While these two nations share much background in their legal systems, they chose very different methods by which to implement the 1970 Convention.
