Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007

134 Protected objects

(1) An object is protected under section 135 if the conditions in subsection (2) are met when it enters the United Kingdom.

(2) The conditions are—

(a) the object is usually kept outside the United Kingdom,

(b) it is not owned by a person resident in the United Kingdom,

(c) its import does not contravene a prohibition or restriction on the import of goods, imposed by or under any enactment, that applies to the object, a part of it or anything it conceals,

(d) it is brought to the United Kingdom for public display in a temporary exhibition at a museum or gallery, and

(e) the museum or gallery has complied with any requirements prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State under this paragraph about the publication of specified information about the object.

(3) A person owns an object for the purposes of subsection (2)(b) whether he owns it beneficially or not and whether alone or with others.

(4) The protection continues—

(a) only so long as the object is in the United Kingdom for any of the purposes in subsection (7), and

(b) unless subsection (5) applies, for not more than 12 months beginning with the day when the object enters the United Kingdom.

(5) The protection continues after the end of the period specified in subsection (4)(b) if the object has suffered damage while protected, and—

(a) it is undergoing repair, conservation or restoration in the United Kingdom because of the damage, or

(b) it is leaving the United Kingdom following repair, conservation or restoration because of the damage.

(6) A new period of protection begins each time an object enters the United Kingdom and the conditions in subsection (2) are met.

(7) The purposes mentioned in subsection (4)(a) are—

(a) public display in a temporary exhibition at a museum or gallery;

(b) going to or returning from public display in a temporary exhibition at a museum or gallery;

(c) related repair, conservation or restoration;

(d) going to or returning from related repair, conservation or restoration;

(e) leaving the United Kingdom.

(8) Repair, conservation or restoration is related if it is carried out in the United Kingdom and is done—

(a) to prepare the object for public display in a temporary exhibition at a museum or gallery, or

(b) because of damage suffered in the course of something within subsection (7).

(9) The Secretary of State may make regulations requiring a museum or gallery to provide persons with specified information about an object in specified circumstances (which may include in particular compliance with conditions imposed by or under the regulations).

(10) Regulations under this section—

(a) may not be made without the consent of the Scottish Ministers, the Welsh Ministers and the Department for Culture, Art and Leisure in Northern Ireland, and

(b) must be made by statutory instrument.

(11) A statutory instrument containing regulations under this section is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.