A collection leaving France may need two papers, and the Gulf asks for a declaration, an invoice and a purpose.

ArtisDomus sees this move as three papers in two systems built separately. France asks, work by work, whether an object may leave. The EU asks again, with its own list and its own thresholds. The Gulf asks what the consignment is for, on what security, and for how long.

Published by ArtisDomus, written by Polina Surina.

Three questions decide the move: what a French owner must obtain before the collection leaves, what must be settled when it lands, and where the two ends fail to meet.

Article L111-2 of the Code du patrimoine covers export outside the customs territory, temporary or permanent. Cultural goods in the categories set by decree need a certificate from the administrative authority. Article L111-1 defines, in five limbs, the national treasures the certificate cannot cover. A national treasure may leave only temporarily (art. L111-7). The purposes are restoration, expert examination, a cultural event and deposit in a public collection.

The certificate attests permanently that a good is not a national treasure. For goods up to one hundred years old, it is issued for a renewable twenty years. Customs officers may demand it at any time when the work leaves the customs territory (art. L111-3). A temporary export authorisation can be shown in its place.

The requirement applies only to the categories in annexe 1 of the regulatory part (art. R111-1). Whether a good falls in one is tested at the date of the application. Décret no. 2020-1718 of 28 December 2020 revised the annexe. The annexe sets two tests, age and value, and a work must meet both. These are the categories a private collection meets most often.

Footnote 1 to the annexe applies to categories 3 to 9 and limits them to works that do not belong to their author. So a living artist moving her own work falls outside those seven categories at any price.

One definition decides whether a collection is counted work by work. A collection is a set of objects, works and documents that cannot be separated without damaging its coherence (art. R111-3). Its value must be greater than the sum of the values of its elements. Value and coherence are judged by the set's interest for history, the history of art, civilisations, and the sciences and techniques. So a group of drawings each under 30,000 euro can count as one object above the threshold.

Two provisions help a collection assembled abroad. The certificate is granted as of right for cultural goods lawfully imported into the customs territory less than fifty years ago (art. L111-4). Goods imported temporarily need no certificate at all (art. L111-2). That means a stay on the customs territory of no more than two years (art. R111-2). It also covers goods from outside the Union under the temporary admission procedure of article 250 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013.

The owner or the owner's agent applies to the minister for culture (art. R111-4). The minister has four months from receipt of a complete application to issue or refuse (art. R111-6). The State's register of procedures where silence means consent lists this certificate with that period.

The clock stops in four cases, and each can come late. It stops if the file is incomplete (art. R111-5). The applicant then has two months to supply what is missing, or is deemed to have abandoned the application. It stops again if the minister requires proof under article L111-3-1 (art. R111-7). The proofs are removal from the public domain, authenticity, and the lawfulness of provenance or import. It stops a third time while the good is awaited for presentation, and a fourth while authenticity is disputed in court.

A refusal applies only to a national treasure. No compensation is due for it (art. L111-4). Any new application for the same good is inadmissible for thirty months from the date of the refusal (art. L111-6). During that time the administrative authority may make an offer to buy, which takes account of prices on the international market (art. L121-1).

Three duties apply while a refusal stands, and they decide whether the rest of the collection can still travel. The owner must declare where the good is kept, and any later change of place (art. L111-7-1). It may not be modified or restored without authorisation (art. L111-7-2). If the refusal covers a collection or an ensemble, its goods may not be sold or otherwise transferred, by lot or by piece, while the refusal lasts (art. L111-7-3).

Council Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 has its own list and thresholds. Cultural goods are the items in Annex I (art. 1), and exporting them outside the customs territory needs an export licence (art. 2(1)). Part B of the Annex sets 150,000 euro for pictures, and 30,000 euro for watercolours, gouaches and pastels. Mosaics and drawings, engravings, photographs and printed maps are at 15,000 euro. Statuary, books, collections, means of transport and any other object are at 50,000 euro. Archaeological objects, dismembered monuments, incunabula and manuscripts, and archives are caught whatever the value. Footnote 1 limits categories 3 to 9 to items more than fifty years old that do not belong to their originators.

Article 2(2) decides which Member State issues the licence, whatever the owner's address. It is the Member State where the object was lawfully and definitively located on 1 January 1993. After that, it is the Member State the object reached by lawful and definitive dispatch from another Member State. Import from a third country counts the same way, and so does re-import after lawful dispatch to one. In France the minister for culture issues the licence (art. R111-19, Code du patrimoine). It must be presented to customs together with the certificate or the temporary export authorisation.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1081/2012 sets the forms and the clocks. There are three types of licence (art. 1), and the standard licence is the normal one for each export (art. 2(1)). It is valid for up to 12 months from the date of issue (art. 9(1)). For a temporary export, the authorities may set a deadline for re-import into the issuing Member State (art. 9(2)).

A private owner can use one of the two open licences. The specific open licence covers repeated temporary export of one specific cultural good by a particular person or organisation (art. 2(2)). It lasts five years at most (art. 10(3)). The general open licence is only for museums and other institutions, and only for goods in their permanent collection (art. 13(1)). A family office with one work that travels back and forth can apply for the first, one object at a time.

The application is a file about the object. It needs documents on the object and its legal status at the time of application, such as invoices and expert appraisals where appropriate (art. 6(2)). It also needs a duly authenticated photograph of at least 8 cm by 12 cm. The authorities may ask to see the goods (art. 6(3)), and the applicant pays the costs of both (art. 6(4)).

The licence then travels with the crate to the border. It is valid throughout the Community (art. 2(3), Regulation 116/2009). It must be presented with the export declaration at the competent customs office (art. 4). A Member State may limit the number of offices that handle these formalities (art. 5). The office checks the goods against the description on the licence, and the licence is referenced in box 44 of the export declaration (art. 12, Implementing Regulation).

The French and European thresholds no longer line up. Since décret no. 2020-1718, the French thresholds are higher for ten categories of cultural goods. For export outside the EU, a European licence may be required when no French certificate is needed. Take a painting more than fifty years old, worth 200,000 euro and bound for the Gulf. It needs the European licence, and the French certificate no longer applies to it.

The Convention on Temporary Admission was made at Istanbul on 26 June 1990 and has been in force since 27 November 1993. Each Contracting Party must grant temporary admission to goods in the Annexes it has accepted (art. 2(1)). A state names those Annexes when it signs, ratifies or accedes (art. 24(4)). They must include Annex A and at least one other.

Annex A covers the carnet. Temporary admission papers are an international customs document accepted as a customs declaration (art. 1(a)). They identify the goods and include an internationally valid guarantee. An issuing association may not issue papers valid for more than one year (art. 5(1)). The re-export period may never exceed that validity (art. 7). Once the carnet is issued the list is closed: no item may be added on the back of the front cover or on any continuation sheet (art. 5(3)).

All six Gulf states chose Annex B.1 as their second Annex: goods for display or use at exhibitions, fairs, meetings or similar events. It expressly excludes exhibitions organised for private purposes in shops or business premises to sell foreign goods (art. 1). The goods may not be removed from the place of the event, unless national law allows it (art. 3). The re-export period is at least six months from the date of temporary admission (art. 4(1)). It can be a year if the work goes on to a later event (art. 4(2)).

None of the six has accepted Annex B.5, which covers goods imported for educational, scientific or cultural purposes. At 25 November 2020, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had each accepted Annex A, and Annex B.1 with reservations. The United Arab Emirates acceded on 14 September 2010. Its federal decree no. 59 of 2010 ratified accession to the Convention and Annexes A and B1.

This changes how the move is structured. A private collection moving to a residence, a store or a warehouse in any of the six falls outside every Annex those states have accepted. A carnet cannot cover it. The carnet serves an exhibition, and Annex B.1 covers it for six months.

Abu Dhabi Customs sets its own controls in Policy number 03 / 2018. The re-export period for goods under an ATA carnet is capped at six months (180 days), and the carnet must stay valid for that period (item 1, article (2)). Item 4 repeats the Convention's ban on adding to the list. The issuing association may issue a replacement carnet if the holder is expected to be unable to re-export in time (item 5). The department may require the guaranteeing association, Dubai Chamber, to pay sums owed within one year of the carnet's expiry (item 6).

A carnet also needs an association standing behind it at each end. Article 8(1) of Annex A refers to the guaranteeing association of the Contracting Party where it is established. The papers must name the countries where they are valid and the associations there (art. 6). The International Chamber of Commerce keeps that directory. Under Africa and Middle East it names Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Kuwait and Oman are Contracting Parties but are missing from it.

The six states share one customs law. Imported goods pay the customs taxes in the tariff and other applicable fees (art. 9, Common Customs Law of the GCC States). Goods exempted by the Law or a Council agreement are excluded. The duties are those in force on the day the customs declaration is registered (art. 13). The Arabic text of the Law is the authentic, binding version.

The rate comes from the customs union. The Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security sets out the common customs tariff: 5 per cent on all foreign goods imported from outside the Union. There are two heads of exemption: 417 goods on the approved schedule, and exemptions under the Unified Customs Law. In Dubai the rate is 5 per cent of the CIF value.

Duty is charged on what the work cost to land. The Rules of Implementation govern valuation (art. 26, Common Customs Law). Freight, insurance and other relevant charges up to arrival at the port of destination are added (paragraph I.5 of article (1) of the Rules). The first basis is the transaction value of the imported goods. If that cannot be used, the Rules move in turn to identical goods, similar goods, the deductive value and the computed value.

A collection moved out of a French house has usually never been sold. A work bought at auction last year has a price actually paid. A work given, inherited or held for thirty years has none, so the first rung is closed to it. Somebody will build a figure, and the only question is whether the owner brought one. The importer has fifteen days to appeal a decision raising the value (art. 61). The days run from registration of the customs declaration, or from the date of the valuation notice sent by registered mail. The director may release goods in dispute, unless they are prohibited, against a deposit equal to the duties and taxes set by customs (art. 62(b)).

VAT is the second charge, and a different authority collects it. The standard rate is 5 per cent. It was introduced across the United Arab Emirates on 1 January 2018 and applies to imports of goods and services. An importer not registered for tax must pay it before the goods are released (art. 50(1), Executive Regulation). A registered person who meets four conditions can use the reverse charge (art. 48(1)). One condition is holding a customs registration number for that import.

One exemption can cover a painting, and it is written for people moving house. Personal effects and used household items enter free of duty for two groups (art. 103(a), Common Customs Law). They are nationals living abroad, and foreigners coming to live in the country for the first time. Dubai has set the conditions since 2006 in Customs Policy DCP (8). The items must be used and brought in the name of the person concerned. Their quantities and numbers must fit the furnishing of a house. The applicant proves residence abroad, and a foreigner also proves work and residence in the country. A packing list showing the full contents goes with the application. New personal effects and household items are excluded altogether (Article (3) of the policy).

Article 47(2) of the Executive Regulation then links the tax to the customs exemption. No tax is due on imports exempt from customs duty in the categories it lists. One is used personal effects and household items brought by expatriates moving to live in the United Arab Emirates for the first time. So a work with the article 103 exemption pays no import tax, and a work that fails it pays both charges.

Each State sets up free zones by its own legal instrument (art. 77, Common Customs Law). The minister or competent authority sets the rules and conditions by resolution. All foreign goods, of any kind or origin, may enter the zones (art. 78(a)). They may leave again for abroad free of customs duties or taxes. Article 78(c) is the rule a collection with nowhere to go needs: goods in free zones and duty-free shops face no limit on how long they stay.

The zone is still supervised. Goods listed in the cargo manifest need the director general's approval to enter (art. 79). Customs may inspect, review documents and examine goods where smuggling is suspected (art. 81). Transfer from one zone to another is allowed only on the securities and procedures the director general sets (art. 83). Goods taken out of a zone into the customs office are treated as foreign goods (art. 85). The same applies to goods imported from the zones into the country (art. 88).

Article 80 lists goods a zone may not admit at all. One belongs in a shipping plan: goods infringing laws on commercial and industrial property rights and copyright protection, where the competent authorities have issued resolutions about them.

The Convention and the customs law meet at the free zone, and this ending runs on no clock. Temporary admission can end by moving the goods elsewhere, with the agreement of the competent authorities (art. 12, Istanbul Convention). The options are a free port or free zone, a customs warehouse, or customs transit with a view to later export. Article (2)(c) of the GCC Rules says the same from the other side. For a carnet running out and a work that cannot go home yet, this is the one lawful ending. It must be arranged before the carnet expires.

What a designated zone means for VAT is a separate question, covered in whether a free zone is a designated zone.

ArtisDomus sees it this way. Each end of the move is complete in itself, drafted without the other in view. Three joins cause the damage, and all three are visible before the crate is booked.

The first join is time. The French certificate attests permanently, and for a good under a hundred years old it runs for a renewable twenty years. The European standard licence runs twelve months, and the specific open licence five years. The issuing ministry may set its own deadline for re-import (art. 9(2)). The carnet runs a year at most, and article 7 of Annex A keeps the re-export period within that. Annex B.1 gives six months from admission, and article (2)(a) of the GCC Rules gives six renewable months. Abu Dhabi caps the re-export period at 180 days. Each period is set without the others in view, and the earliest expiry decides when the work moves.

The second join is value. The French threshold is tested at the date of the application, on the categories of annexe 1. The European threshold is tested on Part B of Annex I, in the Member State identified by article 2(2). The Gulf value is the transaction value, plus freight and insurance up to the port of destination. Where no price was ever paid, it comes from the ladder in the Rules. One painting carries three numbers, and an appraisal made for a ministry carries no weight at a customs counter.

The third join is the list itself. Article 5(3) of Annex A and item 4 of the Abu Dhabi policy both forbid adding an item to a carnet after issue. A French refusal under article L111-6 takes one work out of the move for thirty months. Article L111-7-3 stops a collection under refusal being sold or transferred by lot or by piece. So a refusal that arrives after the carnet is drawn up leaves a list that cannot be corrected, and the answer is a fresh carnet.

No instrument makes either side look at the other side's papers. The European licence goes into the export declaration at the office of exit (art. 4, Regulation 116/2009). On entry, the Common Customs Law asks for a detailed declaration and a detailed original invoice (arts. 47 and 27). The director general sets the rest of the document list (art. 48). Different people assemble the French file and the Gulf file, for different officers, from one inventory.

On application, non-Union goods first exported as Union goods from the customs territory are relieved of import duty (art. 203, Regulation (EU) No 952/2013). They must return within three years and be declared for release for free circulation. The period may be extended for special circumstances. Relief applies only if the goods return in the state in which they were exported. Documents must show the conditions are met.

Duty is the smaller half of the question. Every subheading of Chapter 97 of the Combined Nomenclature, from 9701 21 00 to 9706 90 00, has a conventional rate of free. That rate applies to goods originating in a country party to the GATT or with a most-favoured-nation clause. What remains is import VAT, and each Member State sets it. Article 278-0 B, I of the Code général des impôts applies the domestic rate to imports of the same goods.

Article 278-0 bis sets the reduced rate of 5.5 per cent. Its division I covers supplies of works of art, collectors' items and antiques within the second subparagraph of 1° of I of article 297 A. Supplies whose taxable amount is set under that same article, the margin scheme, are excepted. The taxable amount is the customs value (art. 292). Added to it are the duties and charges due because of the import, and incidental costs up to the first place of destination in France.

Mark 1 January 2027 in the diary. Article 278-0 B is in force until that date, and Ordonnance no. 2025-1247 of 17 December 2025 repeals it from then. Article 278-0 bis carries a note to the same effect.

One more test applies to works made outside Europe. Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2019/880 puts cultural goods created or discovered in the EU customs territory outside that Regulation altogether. Everything else is inside it. Goods in Part A of its Annex may not be brought in if they left the country where they were created or discovered in breach of its laws (art. 3(1)). That ban has no age or value threshold.

ArtisDomus works through five steps, in this order.

The pattern behind all five lies in the object's record. France asks what a work is, how old it is and where it lawfully stood. The Gulf asks what a consignment is worth, what it is for and when it leaves. An inventory with only the first set of facts answers half of one file.

A summary of the law. It is not legal or tax advice.

Foundations and legacy describes the practice area. Taking a work of art out of France covers the French certificate in full. Moving a collection from Europe to the Gulf covers the carnet and the Annexes. Customs duty on a painting imported into the UAE covers what is charged on arrival.