On August 30, 2023, the United States and the Kingdom of Cambodia reaffirmed their long-standing commitment to protect Cambodian cultural property by amending and extending their bilateral cultural property agreement. First entered into in 2003 and amended and extended several times, this agreement commits both parties to work together to counter looting and trafficking of cultural objects, guarantee a clean market for Cambodian art and antiquities in the United States, and increase opportunities for American museums and the American public to learn about and experience Cambodia’s history and culture.
The agreement continues the existing U.S. import restrictions on certain categories of archaeological material originating in Cambodia. The agreement includes new categories of archaeological objects ranging in date from 2500 B.C. through 1750 A.D., and certain categories of ethnological material, dating from 1400 through 1891 A.D.
The United States has been unwavering in its commitment to protect and preserve cultural heritage around the world and to restrict trafficking in cultural property, which is often used to fund terrorist and criminal networks. The State Department negotiated the cultural property agreement under the U.S. law implementing the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. The United States has cultural property agreements with several countries around the world, as well as emergency import restrictions on looted cultural property from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.
