Antiquities, Heritage and Cultural Property Protection Law

This Law aims to protect, conserve and manage antiquities, heritage and cultural property in the Republic of Iraq as national wealth and public memory; prevent their loss, disfigurement or illicit trafficking; ensure their documentation, preservation and availability for knowledge, research, education and responsible cultural tourism; and implement Iraq’s international obligations in this field.

This Law applies to antiquities, archaeological sites, heritage buildings and areas, manuscripts, coins, museum collections, movable and immovable cultural property and underwater cultural heritage, and to surveying, excavation, conservation, restoration, transactions, loans, import, export and restitution. Its provisions on intangible cultural heritage apply to inventory, safeguarding, intergenerational transmission and participation of bearer communities, without making living elements state-owned assets merely by listing them.

The following terms have the meanings set out below:

1. Ministry: the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities.
2. Minister: the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities.
3. Board: the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage or its lawful federal successor.
4. Antiquity: any movable or immovable asset, part thereof, remains or material evidence of archaeological, historical or scientific value, regardless of material, including objects underground or underwater whose archaeological value is established under this Law.
5. Archaeological site: a place containing antiquities, strata, remains or evidence of archaeological or historical value, whether designated or not, once its character is established through legal procedures.
6. Heritage building or area: a building, urban fabric, market, street, neighbourhood or cultural landscape of historical, architectural, artistic, social or religious value designated under this Law.
7. Cultural property: movable and immovable assets significant to archaeology, history, art, literature, science, religion or national memory, including public collections, documents, manuscripts and coins.
8. Underwater cultural heritage: all traces of human existence of cultural, historical or archaeological character that have been wholly or partly underwater, periodically or continuously, for at least one hundred years.
9. Intangible cultural heritage: practices, expressions, knowledge, skills and associated instruments and cultural spaces recognised by communities, groups or individuals as part of their cultural heritage, under the 2003 Convention.
10. Provenance record: a documented chain of an object’s ownership, possession or transfer, its origin and the date it left its country or site.
11. Provenance due diligence: reasonable procedures to verify lawful origin, ownership and export before acquisition, transfer, loan or trade.

Protection shall prioritise in situ conservation wherever possible, material and identity authenticity, minimal reversible intervention, documentation before and after intervention, respect for lawful property rights subject to necessary public-interest restrictions and fair compensation upon expropriation, access to non-sensitive information, participation of local authorities and affected communities, and prevention of protection being used as a pretext to erase Iraq’s cultural or historical diversity.

Federal authorities shall exercise their constitutional competence over antiquities, archaeological sites, heritage structures, manuscripts and coins. These treasures shall be managed in cooperation with regions and governorates under Article (113) of the Constitution. Cooperation includes data exchange, protection planning, project review, emergency management and coordination of museums, stores and sites, without prejudice to the constitutional powers of each level of government.

The Board shall establish and manage a unified national digital register of antiquities, cultural property, sites, heritage buildings and areas, linked to geographical maps, property records and customs and international police databases where appropriate. The register shall have a public section and a restricted section protecting excavation sites, security data and sensitive ownership information.

The Board shall maintain a periodic national survey programme identifying known and potential sites and archaeologically sensitive areas and updating maps before urban expansion and major infrastructure projects. Recognition of archaeological value shall not depend on prior publication where material evidence requiring interim protection emerges during works.

The Minister shall designate an archaeological site, heritage building or area on a reasoned technical recommendation from the Board. The decision shall specify the property or site, boundaries, protection level, buffer zone and principal restrictions. Relevant parties, local authorities and property registration bodies shall be notified, and the decision published in the Iraqi Gazette and on the Board’s electronic platform.

An owner, holder of a right in rem or local authority may object to an independent ministerial committee within thirty days of notification. The committee’s decision may be challenged before the administrative courts. Appeal shall not suspend urgent protective measures where delay would expose the cultural asset to serious risk, provided the measures are proportionate and reasoned.

Each site’s or building’s buffer zone shall be determined according to its significance, sensitivity and surrounding urban environment; no rigid uniform distance shall apply to all cases. Planning controls shall specify heights, uses, colours, advertisements, excavation, vibration, pollution sources and other matters necessary to preserve the site’s integrity and visual setting.

Sites and buffer zones shall be incorporated into master plans, land uses and property registration maps. The Board shall provide updated data layers to the Baghdad Mayoralty, municipalities, governorates and planning bodies. No building, clearance or change-of-use permit within a protected area may be granted without competent authority approval, within a procedural period not exceeding thirty working days from a complete application.

The Board shall establish standards for digital photography, laser scanning, three-dimensional modelling, original-file preservation and backups for priority sites and objects. Digital documentation is not a substitute for physical conservation but a tool for protection, research, restitution and post-disaster rehabilitation.

Demolition, removal, disfigurement, dismantling, burial, burning, uprooting or alteration of an archaeological site, heritage building or part thereof is prohibited, as are excavation, construction, installation of services or extraction of materials within the protected area without a licence. The prohibition includes acts altering archaeological context or separating architectural elements from their location.

The owner or possessor of a heritage building shall reasonably maintain it, prevent deliberate deterioration and notify the competent body of serious risks. The Board shall issue technical guidance on intervention levels. An owner may not be required to undertake works beyond their financial capacity without support, a grant, a concessional loan or public contribution proportionate to the public benefit.

Restoration shall follow an approved plan prepared by qualified specialists, covering condition documentation, material diagnosis, intervention method, risk treatment and subsequent maintenance. Unnecessary replacement of original elements or creation of an imagined historical appearance without scientific evidence is prohibited.

A heritage building’s use may change if the new use is compatible with its significance, authenticity and structural integrity and does not require removal of essential elements or harmful loads or services. Decisions shall prioritise preservation of heritage value and building sustainability, rather than retaining a historical function that is no longer viable.

Grants, concessional loans, exemptions or facilities may be allocated for approved conservation works, prioritising threatened buildings and sites benefiting the public. Assistance shall be linked to a maintenance agreement, inspection rights and recovery of support in case of misuse.

Property of exceptional significance may be expropriated where less restrictive protection is infeasible or its survival faces a serious threat, under the Expropriation Law and with fair compensation. Easements for protection, access, views or maintenance may be created where necessary, with compensation for particular damage arising from them under the law.

Public and private bodies shall integrate antiquities and heritage protection from feasibility and design stages. The implementing body shall bear the cost of preventive archaeological surveys or rescue excavation necessitated by its project, within an agreed timetable that shall not be used to obstruct the project without justification.

Upon discovery of an antiquity, structure, buried deposit or significant stratum during excavation or construction, work shall immediately cease at the find and within the necessary safety zone. The nearest police station and the Board or antiquities inspectorate shall be notified within twenty-four hours. The Board shall inspect within seventy-two hours where circumstances permit and make an initial decision to resume work, extend protection or conduct rescue excavation.

Where a final protection decision deprives a licensed, good-faith project of a lawful benefit beyond ordinary general restrictions, compensation shall be considered under general rules and the Expropriation Law. No compensation is due for stopping unlicensed work or for harm resulting from concealment of archaeological information known to the project owner.

Antiquities discovered through organised excavation or chance finds within the Republic of Iraq are public assets dedicated to cultural benefit, unless legally established as lawful private cultural property registered before this Law enters into force. Discovery does not confer ownership on the finder.

Manuscripts, coins, heritage materials and private collections with proven lawful provenance may be retained and registered under this Law. Their owner shall receive a digital document recording description, photograph, identity and registration number. Registration does not acknowledge ownership of an object later shown to have been stolen or illicitly excavated or exported.

Registered cultural property may not be sold, gifted, pledged or transferred without notifying the Board and updating its provenance record. The Board has a time-limited pre-emption right where the property has exceptional national significance, at fair value determined by an independent committee subject to objection.

Public and private museums shall comply with security, conservation, environmental, documentation, inventory and emergency-planning standards. Licensing a private museum requires disclosure of collections’ ownership and provenance. Display of objects of unknown provenance is prohibited where serious indications suggest looting or illicit export.

Museums and government stores shall periodically reconcile physical and digital collection records, separating custody, inventory and approval functions wherever possible. Any loss or tampering shall immediately be reported to the judiciary, police and Board, and the object’s details entered into relevant national and international databases.

Cultural property may be loaned or temporarily displayed inside or outside Iraq by a decision based on assessment of conservation, security, insurance and cultural and diplomatic interests. A contract shall specify loan duration, immunity from seizure wherever legally possible, and transport and return conditions. A loan may not transfer ownership or extinguish Iraq’s right to restitution.

Copies, models, images and digital reproductions may be produced for scientific, educational, cultural or commercial purposes under a transparent licensing system that protects originals from damage and prevents misrepresentation. Physical copies must be clearly marked to distinguish them from originals. Non-commercial photography at sites and museums may be prohibited only for published conservation, security or lawful-rights reasons.

The Board shall undertake archaeological excavation and may license qualified Iraqi and foreign universities, centres and missions through scientific competition or cooperation agreements. Any unlicensed excavation seeking antiquities is prohibited, including use of detection or survey equipment for non-scientific purposes in archaeological areas.

A licence application requires a clear research plan, qualified team, demonstrated funding, immediate conservation plan for finds, data and sample management system, Iraqi training and participation programme, safety and security measures, and an undertaking to deposit records and preliminary and final findings.

Foreign missions shall meaningfully involve Iraqi specialists and students in fieldwork, analysis and publication, and transfer agreed skills, equipment and knowledge, respecting scientific authorship rules and not excluding Iraqi researchers from results they materially helped produce.

Archaeological finds remain public property. Original records, photographs, maps, models and excavation data form part of the national scientific archive, while researchers’ publication and authorship rights are preserved. Contracts shall establish reasonable preliminary publication deadlines that do not become perpetual monopolies over information.

Archaeological, biological or geological samples may leave Iraq for analysis only under a licence specifying type, quantity, purpose, analysis location, deadline for return of recoverable material, and delivery of raw data and results. Destruction beyond scientific necessity is prohibited.

The Board may temporarily stop work where conservation or safety is threatened or licence conditions are breached. The team shall remedy the breach within a reasonable period. A licence may be revoked by reasoned decision after hearing the licensee where breaches are serious or repeated, without prejudice to civil or criminal liability.

Preserving underwater cultural heritage in its original location shall be the first option before any intervention is authorised, unless recovery or excavation is shown to be necessary for protection, research or public benefit under scientific standards.

Commercial exploitation of underwater cultural heritage through sale, purchase, barter or dispersal of collections is prohibited. This does not prevent responsible tourism or educational services that neither damage the site nor turn heritage into a traded commodity.

Anyone finding indications of underwater heritage during diving, fishing, port works, dredging or surveying shall notify the Board and the competent maritime or river authority. Recovery, sampling or movement of objects is permitted only under a specialised archaeological licence.

Fieldwork shall follow the Rules in the Annex to the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, in force for Iraq. The Ministry shall coordinate with competent bodies where another state, a state vessel or aircraft, or an area subject to special international cooperation rules is involved.

In cooperation with communities, groups and individuals who bear the heritage, the Ministry shall prepare updated lists and inventories of intangible cultural heritage elements. No element may be listed or presented in a manner that strips it of its meaning for the community or discloses secret or sacred knowledge contrary to the community’s legitimate wishes.

Safeguarding measures include supporting intergenerational transmission of skills, voluntary documentation, non-formal education, protection of the social environments necessary for continued practice, and support for artisans, practitioners and community initiatives. Living heritage may not be frozen into a rigid form that prevents its natural evolution.

Where a public body or government-funded project commercially uses an element of intangible heritage, a fair share of benefits shall be allocated to the relevant community or practitioners, respecting their names and right to object to serious distortion. This Article does not affect applicable intellectual property rules.

Permanent removal of an antiquity or protected cultural property from Iraq is prohibited except where expressly permitted by law and following technical examination. Temporary removal for study, restoration or exhibition may be authorised by a licence specifying destination, duration, insurance and return conditions.

Foreign cultural property shall not be admitted where reasonable grounds suggest it was stolen, looted or exported contrary to the law of its country of origin. The importer shall provide provenance and export documents where required. Authorities may provisionally seize the object and notify the Board, judicial authorities and state concerned.

Licensed cultural-object dealers and auction operators shall establish seller and buyer identities, retain provenance records, photographs and documents for at least ten years, check available stolen-object databases, and refuse and report a transaction under the law where serious suspicion arises.

A museum, university or public institution may not purchase or accept a donated object presenting provenance risks without a written examination demonstrating due diligence. The acquisition decision and object’s origin shall be published insofar as this does not jeopardise investigations or security.

The Ministry and Board, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, judicial authorities and security bodies, shall prepare restitution files and claims for Iraqi cultural property that was stolen, looted or illicitly exported, using the 1970 UNESCO Convention and other instruments, bilateral agreements and diplomatic and judicial channels.

Iraqi courts shall determine applications for return of foreign cultural property under applicable treaties, Iraqi laws and principles of good faith and due diligence. Reciprocity shall not be applied to legitimise possession proven to derive from internationally prohibited theft or looting.

Customs, police and the Board shall establish a joint contact point for document verification, exchange of object images and risk lists, and initial-identification training, linking procedures to relevant international systems where lawful and technically feasible.

The Ministry and Board, in coordination with the Ministries of Defence and Interior, civil defence and local authorities, shall prepare advance cultural property protection plans covering inventories, backups, fire and flood protection, collection evacuation, identification of safe shelters, and training of personnel and relevant forces.

Directing hostilities against cultural property or using it in a manner that makes it a military objective is prohibited, subject strictly to exceptions permitted by the 1954 Hague Convention and its Second Protocol only where the conditions of imperative military necessity are met, under the decision, rank and procedures specified in military regulations consistent with the Convention.

The Board shall prepare lists of property eligible for special or enhanced protection under international instruments and coordinate registration, use of the distinctive emblem and prevention of its misuse. Absence of the emblem does not remove protection afforded by international law or this Law.

Iraqi authorities, within their remit, shall prevent looting, theft, vandalism and unlawful appropriation in conflict-affected territories and take feasible measures to preserve cultural institutions. Protection also applies in non-international armed conflicts under applicable international rules.

Priority museums, stores and sites shall maintain encrypted emergency records and off-site backups, contact lists, evacuation routes and basic emergency salvage supplies. Plans shall be periodically tested through exercises that do not endanger collections.

The Board shall manage the national register, surveys, excavation, licensing, conservation and restoration; supervise its museums and stores; prepare restitution files; coordinate with governorates and regions; issue technical guidance; and publish an annual report on the state of heritage, risks, achievements and expenditure.

A non-executive advisory council shall be established within the Ministry, including specialists in archaeology, architecture, restoration, museums, law, history, environment and digitalisation, and representatives of relevant governorates and communities. It shall advise on classification criteria, policies and major projects, without replacing the Board or exercising executive powers.

Technical committees shall be formed as needed for classification, valuation, restoration and objections, with due regard to expertise and conflicts of interest. A person who prepared a project or benefits financially from it may not vote on a technical decision concerning it.

The Ministry and Board shall publish lists of designated sites, classification decisions, licensing procedures, contract and grant summaries, annual reports and recovery and loss statistics, withholding sensitive coordinates and security, investigation and private information.

Antiquities and heritage protection shall be financed through public budget allocations, statutory fees, visitor and service revenues, grants and gifts accepted under law, and court-awarded compensation. Relevant revenues shall be prioritised for conservation, security, documentation, maintenance and training. Revenue generation does not justify overriding protection standards.

The budget law or existing financial mechanisms may allocate an account or financing window for urgent restoration and salvage after disasters and conflict, subject to oversight, audit and published expenditure. This Article does not create a new independent administrative entity.

Penalties in this Chapter apply without prejudice to a harsher penalty under another law. The severity of harm, cultural significance, offender’s intent and capacity, repetition and benefit obtained shall be considered. Confiscation, removal of encroachments, reinstatement or payment of restoration costs shall be supplementary measures wherever legally and technically feasible.

Anyone stealing an antiquity or registered cultural property from a museum, store, site or public institution shall be punished by imprisonment for no less than seven and no more than fifteen years and a fine of no less than twice and no more than six times its assessed value. Being an employee entrusted with custody or guarding is an aggravating circumstance.

Anyone removing or attempting to remove an antiquity from Iraq unlawfully shall be punished by imprisonment for no less than seven and no more than fifteen years and a fine of no less than three and no more than ten times its assessed value. For non-archaeological heritage property, the penalty shall be reduced according to the seriousness of the act and cultural significance, but shall not fall below detention, a fine and confiscation.

Anyone undertaking unlicensed digging or excavation to find antiquities, or appropriating finds resulting from it, shall be punished by imprisonment for no less than five and no more than ten years and a fine proportionate to the damage. The fine shall be doubled where heavy equipment or an organised network is used, or the act destroys an archaeological context that cannot be restored.

Anyone intentionally destroying, demolishing or disfiguring a protected archaeological or heritage site, building or element shall be punished by imprisonment for no less than three and no more than ten years and a fine of at least twice the cost of damage and restoration. Where damage results from gross negligence during a licensed project, the penalty shall be detention or a fine, with an obligation to remedy damage and pay compensation as appropriate.

Anyone knowingly trading in stolen or unlawfully excavated or exported antiquities or cultural property shall be punished by imprisonment for no more than ten years, a fine and confiscation of seized items. Anyone making or selling an imitation as an original with intent to defraud shall be punished by detention and a fine, with confiscation of tools and materials used.

Anyone intentionally committing a serious violation that the Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention requires to be criminalised shall be punished by life or fixed-term imprisonment according to the act’s seriousness. These include attacking cultural property under enhanced protection; using it or its immediate surroundings to support military action contrary to protection conditions; or extensive destruction, appropriation, theft or systematic looting of cultural property. Jurisdictional provisions required by applicable treaties and Iraqi laws shall apply.

Where an offence is committed in the name or interest of a private legal person as a result of a decision or gross negligence by its management, it shall incur the fines and measures prescribed in the Penal Code and related laws, including suspension of activity or licence revocation where appropriate, without exempting the responsible natural person.

Competent investigative and judicial authorities alone shall investigate and try offences under this Law. Inspection and protection officers designated by law or judicial decision shall have enforcement powers within prescribed limits; neither the Board nor its chair shall have criminal adjudication powers. Searches, seizures and entry into private premises shall be subject to constitutional and judicial safeguards.

Valid registrations, designations, licences and decisions under Antiquities and Heritage Law No. (55) of 2002 shall remain effective until amended or replaced under this Law. Within twenty-four months, the Ministry shall convert paper records into the national digital register and review priority classifications, without withdrawing protection merely because of administrative delay.

The Council of Ministers or Minister, each within its remit, shall issue regulations and instructions necessary to implement this Law within twelve months of publication, particularly on the national register, classification, buffer zones, provenance due diligence, private museums, excavation, underwater heritage, loans, temporary export and emergencies.

Antiquities and Heritage Law No. (55) of 2002 is repealed from this Law’s entry into force. Regulations and instructions issued under it remain effective insofar as they do not conflict with this Law, until replaced.

This Law enters into force ninety days after publication in the Iraqi Gazette, except provisions requiring implementing regulations, which shall apply when those regulations are issued or the prescribed issuance period expires, whichever is earlier. Core protection rules shall apply from commencement.