Export of Objects of Cultural Interest 2015/16
Information on the operation of the export controls on objects of cultural interest for 2015/16, produced by Arts Council England on behalf of DCMS. Revised 25 January 2017.
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Details
About
The statistical release presents the figures that will be included in the Report on the Operation of the Control related to the export of objects of cultural interest, which the Secretary of State is required to present to Parliament under Section 10 (1)(a) of the Export Control Act 2002 (the Act). The Report is also included in the Export of Objects of Cultural Interest 2015-16, which is the annual report of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA).
These figures are collated by the Export Licensing Unit at the Arts Council on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
A revision was made on 25 January to correct the total 2015-16 support by The Art Fund in Table 6. This figure previously omitted the £250,000 contribution for Nonsuch Palace from the South by Joris Hoefnagel, which is included in Table 7. The change only impacts one figure in Table 6. There are no changes to any of the other figures in the publication or associated tables.
Released
15 December 2016
Period covered
May 2015 to April 2016
Geographic coverage
UK
Next release date
November/December 2017
Key findings
Between 1 May 2015 and 30 April 2016, there were 10,585 applications for export licences, covering a total of 71,731 items.
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34,999 items, representing 49% of the total and with a total value of £1.48 billion, were issued with export licences after they had been referred to an expert adviser.
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25 cases were considered by the RCEWA. Of these, it found that 3 did not meet the Waverley Criteria. 1 of the remaining 22 cases was withdrawn following the case hearing and therefore not referred to the Secretary of State.
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In total, 21 cases were referred to the Secretary of State for deferral and the RCEWA’s recommendations were accepted in all cases. The aggregate value of the 21 items deferred was £117 million.
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Of the 21 cases where the issue of the export licence was deferred, 9 resulted in acquisitions by institutions or individuals in the United Kingdom. The objects in these 9 cases had a total value of £7 million (value price at deferral), which represents 6% of the total value of objects placed under deferral.
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Export licences were issued for the objects in 6 of the remaining cases which had a total value of £37.5 million (value price at deferral) representing 32% of the total value of objects placed under deferral.
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In 4 cases the licence applications were withdrawn during the deferral periods.
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Two cases are still under deferral.
The UK Statistics Authority
This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (2009), as produced by the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA). The UKSA has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.
The responsible statistician for this release is Sarah Lasher. For enquiries on this release, contact Sarah on 020 7211 6787 or [email protected].