ACCG contests coin seizure
Dave Welsh
Seizure
http://tinyurl.com/nlpl5g [WSJ Market Watch]
A small packet of inexpensive Chinese and Cypriot coins imported from
England by the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG) have been seized by
Customs in Baltimore, Maryland.
The coins were imported to test the legitimacy of State Department (DOS)
imposed import restrictions via two Memoranda of Understanding (MOU). ACCG
maintains that actions of DOS relating to implementation of the Cultural
Property Implementation Act (CPIA) have been secretive, arbitrary and
capricious and will contest the seizure in the U.S. Federal District Court
in Baltimore.
Information from another Freedom of Information Act lawsuit suggests that
the DOS failed to follow the recommendations of its own experts on the
Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) in extending restrictions to
Cypriot coins, and then misled Congress about this decision. Other
information implicates DOS bureaucrats adding coins to the Chinese MOU even
though Chinese officials never asked for their inclusion.
The Obama Administration has promised transparency and accountability in
government. ACCG hopes its challenge to the ban on ancient Chinese and
Cypriot coins will lead the Court also to address these and other concerns
about the process for imposing import restrictions on cultural goods.
During a 2008 International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) discussion,
former CPAC Chairperson Jay Kislak (2003-2008) said, "I am not necessarily
against any actions that were taken on any of the MOU's which were
recommended by the Committee and put into action. I am, however, opposed to
the way it is done because I think it is absolutely, completely,
un-American, and I don't mind saying that. Not anywhere in our government do
we do things this way, except with this group."
Kislak also addressed government transparency by saying, "In every other
branch of government, there is disclosure, and information is made public.
We have a democracy, and it is government of the people, for the people, by
the people, not by the bureaucrats over them."
Another former CPAC chairperson, Jack Josephson (1990-1995), added,
"...rarely has Committee membership been in conformity with the Act. During
my experience on the Committee, this was not the only part of the Convention
on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA) that was disregarded." Former
CPAC member Kate Fitz Gibbon (2000-2003) agreed, saying, "In many cases,
from my 'plain reading,' the Committee has substantively altered
Congressional intent."
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COMMENTARY
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The key issue in this dispute is a perception that State Department
bureaucrats overseeing implementation of the US response to the 1970 UNESCO
Convention have operated secretively, in collusion with the archaeology
lobby, to impose restrictions on importation of ancient coins without good
cause, without respecting due process, and without respecting the clearly
expressed intent of Congress in enacting the 1983 CPIA legislation.
It is noteworthy that two former chairpersons of the CPAC (which is
responsible for advising the President as to the propriety of complying with
requests for import restrictions) have condemned the secretive and arbitrary
manner in which the State Department has managed the membership and
operations of the CPAC and administration of the CPIA. When members of the
CPAC allege that Congressional intent has been substantively altered and
that the CPIA is being administered in a way that is "absolutely,
completely, un-American" their voices should be heard.
The State Department bureaucracy continues to stonewall its
maladministration of the CPAC and the CPIA, doing everything possible to
evade disclosure of information to which the public is entitled to have
access under the Freedom of Information Act. This obsessive concern with
official secrecy contravenes the Obama Administration's promises regarding
transparency and accountability in government, and suggests that State
Department bureaucrats are concerned that such disclosure could lead to
charges of official misconduct.
It is disgraceful that in order to ensure that US law governing
administration of the CPIA is respected, collectors have actually been
compelled to sue their own government. The right of citizens to receive due
process of law and equitable administration of the law by Government
authorities is fundamental, and must transcend individual perspectives on
private collecting of artifacts. Bureaucrats who will not equitably
administer the law must be removed from office.
Dave Welsh
Classical Coins
www.classicalcoins.com
dwel...@cox.net