(1)The Treasury may, on a claim made for the purpose, designate such pictures, prints, books, manuscripts, works of art, scientific collections or other things not yielding income as—
(a)were included in the estate of a person immediately before his death ; and
(b)appear to the Treasury to be of national, scientific, historic or artistic interest;
to be objects to which this section applies.
(2)Where, with respect to an object to which this section applies, an undertaking is given, by such person as the Treasury think appropriate in the circumstances of the case, that, until the person entitled to the object dies or the object is disposed of, whether by sale or gift or otherwise.—
(a)the object will be kept permanently in the United Kingdom and will not leave it temporarily except for a purpose and a period approved by the Treasury ; and
(b)reasonable steps will be taken for the preservation of the object; and
(c)reasonable facilities for examining the object for the purpose of seeing the steps taken for its preservation, or, subject to subsection (3) below, for purposes of research, will be allowed to any person authorised by the Treasury to examine it;
the value of the object shall be left out of account in determining for the purposes of this Part of this Act the value transferred by the transfer of value made on the death of the person mentioned in subsection (1)(a) above.
(3)If it appears to the Treasury, on a claim made for the purpose, that any documents which are designated or to be designated as objects to which this section applies contain information which for personal or other reasons ought to be treated as confidential, they may exclude those documents, either altogether or to such extent as they think fit, from so much of an undertaking given or to be given under subsection (2)(c) above as relates to their examination for purposes of research.
(4)In this section " national interest" includes interest within any part of the United Kingdom.