Iraq Cultural Heritage Protection Act
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Iraq Cultural Heritage Protection Act - Bans the importation into the United States of any archaeological or cultural material of Iraq that was removed from Iraq after the issuance of Executive Order 12722 of August 2, 1990, unless the Government of Iraq certifies that the exportation of such material from Iraq was not in violation of Iraqi law. Requires U.S. custom officers to detain such material until it can be certified as legally exported from Iraq.
Subjects to seizure and forfeiture any Iraqi archaeological or cultural material that is illegally imported into the United States or that cannot be certified as legally exported from Iraq. Requires the return to Iraq of any archaeological or cultural material forfeited under this Act.
Defines "country of origin" for purposes of applying U.S. tariff and customs laws to certain archaeological materials.
Amends the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act to: (1) redefine an object of archaeological interest as one that is at least 100 years old (currently, at least 250 years old); (2) limit the period during which import restrictions under the Act may be placed on the archaeological or ethnological material of any country to ten years (subject to extensions by the President for emergency conditions) after the date such restrictions are published in the Federal Register; and (3) extend from five to ten years the effective period of bilateral or multilateral agreements for import restrictions on archaeological or ethnological materials.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Trade.
- Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 2009: Iraq Cultural Heritage Protection Act. 108th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/108-HR-2009/
"H.R. 2009: Iraq Cultural Heritage Protection Act." 108th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/108-HR-2009/.
H.R. 2009, 108th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/108-HR-2009/.
[H.R. 2009: Iraq Cultural Heritage Protection Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/108-HR-2009/)