19 U.S.C. § 2602 — Agreements to implement Article 9 of the convention

(a) Agreement authority. (1) If a State Party asks the United States for help under article 9 of the Convention, the President may act under paragraph (2) if the President determines that: (A) pillage of the State Party’s archaeological or ethnological material threatens its cultural patrimony; (B) the State Party has taken measures consistent with the Convention to protect that patrimony; (C)(i) applying the import restrictions in section 2606 to that material, together with similar restrictions used or soon to be used by countries with significant imports of it, would substantially help deter the serious pillage; and (ii) less severe remedies are unavailable; and (D) applying the restrictions in these circumstances is consistent with the international community’s general interest in exchanging cultural property for scientific, cultural, and educational purposes. (2) The President may enter into (A) a bilateral agreement with the State Party applying the section 2606 restrictions to the material whose pillage threatens its patrimony, or (B) a multilateral agreement with that State Party and one or more other countries under which the United States applies those restrictions and the other countries apply similar ones. (3) The request must include a written statement of the facts known to the State Party that concern the determinations required by paragraph (1)(A) through (D). (4) When carrying out this subsection, the President should try to obtain the State Party’s commitment to allow exchange of its archaeological and ethnological material when the exchange would not threaten its cultural patrimony. (b) Effective period. An agreement under subsection (a) may not last beyond the end of the 5-year period that begins when it enters into force for the United States. (c) Restrictions on agreements. (1) The President may not enter into an agreement under subsection (a) unless the United States’ restrictions will be applied together with similar restrictions used or soon to be used by countries with significant imports of the material. (2) The President may nevertheless enter into an agreement if a country with significant imports is not using, and is not likely to use, similar restrictions, and the President determines that (A) those restrictions are not essential to deter the serious pillage, and (B) applying the United States’ restrictions together with similar restrictions of other significant-import countries would substantially help deter it. (d) Suspension. After an agreement takes effect for the United States, if the President determines that parties with significant imports (other than parties described in subsection (c)(2)) have either (1) not adopted similar restrictions within a reasonable time, or (2) are not applying them satisfactorily so that the agreement is not substantially helping deter pillage, the President must suspend the section 2606 restrictions until those countries take suitable corrective action. (e) Extension. The President may extend an agreement for additional periods of no more than 5 years each if the subsection (a)(1) factors still exist and no reason for suspension under subsection (d) exists. (f) Procedures. When a State Party makes a request under subsection (a), or the President proposes an extension under subsection (e), the President must (1) publish notice in the Federal Register; (2) give the Committee information about the request or proposal, including any applicable information from the State Party about emergency action under section 2603, so the Committee can perform its duties under section 2605(f); and (3) consider the views and recommendations in any Committee report required under section 2605(f)(1) or (2) and submitted before the end of the 150-day period beginning when the President gave the Committee that information. (g) Reports on Presidential action. (1) The President must promptly report to Congress after entering into or extending an agreement under subsection (a) or (e), or applying restrictions under section 2603. (2) The report must describe the action, including the text of any agreement; state any differences between the action and the views or recommendations in a Committee report the President had to consider; and explain each difference. (3) If a required Committee report recommends an agreement but the President does not enter into one, the President must report to Congress why not.