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HR 595 119th Congress House Foreign Trade and International Finance Currency Customs enforcement Trade restrictions

To amend the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act to make certain technical corrections to facilitate the lawful trade and collecting of numismatic materials.

Introduced: June 24, 2025 See on congress.gov
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Jan 21, 2025
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Jan 21, 2025
Introduced in House
 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

This bill revises the standard for providing satisfactory evidence to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regarding the importation of numismatic material (i.e., coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects) into the United States.

Current law generally prohibits the importation of designated archaeological or ethnological material that is exported from certain countries that are a party to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. Importation is allowed if the country issues a certification or other documentation certifying the exportation was not in violation of the country's laws. The United States implements its obligations through the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act.

Under current law, CBP must seize imports of designated archaeological or ethnological material unless the importer establishes by certain documentation or satisfactory evidence that the material is admissible into the United States. 

This bill specifies the standard for satisfactory evidence with respect to numismatic material. Specifically, the bill allows for the import of numismatic material with evidence that the numismatic material was acquired and exported lawfully, is of a known type, and is not known to be the direct product of illicit excavations within certain countries after the effective date for any import restrictions on such material. 

The bill prohibits CBP, when reviewing satisfactory evidence, from requiring other documentation unless there is probable cause to believe the presented evidence is false or fraudulent.

What's happening now January 21, 2025

Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1