The Code of Ethics for Museums of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) establishes a specific set of criteria for the obligations of due diligence.
For provenance research and due diligence they state in section 2.3 that “every effort must be made before acquisition to ensure that any object or specimen offered for purchase, gift, loan, bequest, or exchange has not been illegally obtained in, or exported from, its country of origin or any intermediate country in which it might have been owned legally (including the museum's own country). Due diligence in this regard should establish the full history of the item since discovery or production.”
Last modification 17.11.2014
Contact
Federal Office of Culture
Contact Bureau on Looted Art
Hallwylstrasse 15
3003
Bern
Phone
+41 58 464 72 28