Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions - S 1291

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

By Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself and Mr. BAUCUS):

    S. 1291. A bill to authorize the President to impose emergency import restrictions on archaeological or ethnological materials of Iraq until normalization of relations between the United States and the Government of Iraq has been established; to the Committee on Finance.

    Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, today I rise to introduce the Emergency Protection for Iraqi Cultural Antiquities Act of 2003, the EPIC Antiquities Act of 2003. I am pleased that Senator BAUCUS joins me as an original cosponsor of this important legislation. The EPIC Antiquities Act of 2003 authorizes the President to impose immediate emergency import restrictions on the archaeological and ethnological materials of Iraq. The purpose of this bill is simple—to close a legal loophole which could allow looted Iraqi antiquities to be brought into the United States. Allow me to explain how this might happen.

    When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August of 1990, former President Bush issued Executive Orders 12722 and 12744, which declared a national emergency with respect to Iraq. Those orders imposed economic sanctions against Iraq, including a complete trade embargo which automatically prohibited trade in Iraqi antiquities as of that time. The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 661 on August 6, 1990, which also imposed economic sanctions on Iraq. The sanctions imposed under the Executive Orders are spelled out in the Iraqi Sanctions Regulations. These regulations are administered by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC.

    Now until recently, the Iraqi Sanctions Regulations continued to restrict trade with Iraq, including trade in Iraqi antiquities. However, on May 22, 2003, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1483, which lifted most sanctions on Iraq. Resolution 1483 also provided that Member States should establish a prohibition on trade in archaeological, cultural, historical, religious, and rare scientific items of Iraq, that may have been illegally removed from the country since the adoption of Resolution 661 back in 1990. On May 23, 2003, OFAC implemented UN Resolution 1483 and issued a General License which lifted most of our trade sanctions with respect to Iraq. Importantly, OFAC's general license continues to ban trade in looted Iraqi antiquities. However, this legal structure that is currently in place is vulnerable to a potential loophole.

    It is important to recognize that the legal authority for OFAC's continuing restrictions on trade in Iraqi antiquities derives from the Executive Orders issued in 1990, which are themselves premised upon the existence of emergency conditions with respect to Iraq. It is possible that once an interim government is in place, the President may determine that emergency conditions no longer exist with respect to Iraq and relations between the United States and Iraq will be normalized. At that point, the legal authority for the OFAC restrictions will be terminated. This bill is designed to bridge a potential gap in the protections afforded Iraqi antiquities by allowing the President to impose emergency import restrictions without delay. These emergency restrictions would be authorized for an interim period to extend beyond any termination of the OFAC restrictions, and would remain in place until such time as other, more lengthy, legal mechanisms for the protection of cultural antiquities can be completed. I will elaborate on these other legal mechanisms in a moment.

    If Congress does not act to provide the means for establishing the interim ban on trade contained in this bill, the door may be opened to imports of looted Iraqi antiquities into the United States. Already the press has reported allegations that European auction houses have traded in looted Iraqi antiquities. The last thing that we in Congress want to do is to fail to act to prevent trade in looted Iraqi artifacts here in the United States.

    The stopgap authority in this bill derives from legislation implementing the U.N. Convention on the protection of cultural property. This bill amends the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act, Implementation Act, to allow the President to impose immediate emergency import restrictions with respect to Iraqi antiquities. The Implementation Act already authorizes the President to restrict imports of cultural antiquities, but there is a somewhat lengthy process called for under the Implementation Act before the President may impose such restrictions. Since we passed the Implementation Act in 1983, we have imposed import restrictions on archaeological or ethnological materials from ten countries to assist in the protection of their cultural property.

    Unfortunately, the Implementation Act does not address the unique conditions that prevail in Iraq today. Normally, under the Implementation Act a country formally requests that the United States prohibit stolen or illegally exported cultural antiquities from entering into the United States. The State Department will then publish a Federal Register notice announcing the request. Following publication, a Cultural Property Advisory Committee will investigate and review the request and report its recommendation to the President. With the benefit of the Committee's report, the President can then proceed to negotiate a bilateral agreement with the foreign country. In the past, this entire process has taken at least a year before import restrictions are put in place.

    There are two major deficiencies with the current process which necessitate the bill we are introducing today. First, the Implementation Act requires a foreign government to make a formal request to the United States. Right now, there is no Government of Iraq to request such a bilateral agreement with the United States. The second problem is that, even if there were an Iraqi Government in place to make such a request, the administrative process called for under the Implementation Act just takes too long given the present circumstances—although the extent of looting of museums, libraries, and archaeological sites in Iraq may not be as great as was first feared, the fact remains that such looting has occurred and that illicit trade in such antiquities could spread if there is even a temporary lifting of import restrictions.

    Now granted, the Implementation Act does authorize the President to impose emergency import restrictions even before a bilateral agreement is finalized. However, before the President can do so, all of the other administrative processes under the Implementation Act must be completed; this includes a three month period for the preparation of a report to the President by the Cultural Property Advisory Committee. Again, the problem here is that the normal process for imposing even emergency import restrictions could take too long.

    If the Administration were to normalize relations between the United States and the next Government of Iraq, thereby terminating the OFAC import restrictions, it is possible that looted Iraqi antiquities could begin entering the United States while we sit and wait for a possible bilateral agreement to be finalized. The EPIC Antiquities Act of 2003 solves this problem. This legislation provides a uniquely and narrowly tailored amendment to the Implementation Act which closes the potential legal loophole between the time when relations are normalized and the time when we can undertake and complete the normal processes for the protection of cultural antiquities contained in the Implementation Act.

    By extending the President's authority under the Implementation Act for an interim period, this bill is narrowly designed to meet the unique circumstances in Iraq today. The EPIC Antiquities Act of 2003 provides that this extension of the President's authority will terminate one year after relations are normalized, or by September 30, 2004, so that the next Iraqi Government can determine for itself whether to seek a bilateral agreement with the United States, and if so, the President can negotiate such an agreement with the benefit of input from the Cultural Property Advisory Committee—as envisioned by the Implementation Act. In short, our bill does not seek to supplant the established process for protecting cultural antiquities under the Implementation Act; instead, it permits an extra guarantee of protection for Iraq's cultural antiquities in the short term while Iraq completes its transition back into the community of nations.

    I thank Senator Baucus for his support, and I hope our colleagues can also support this important and timely bill. I hope we are able to move this legislation quickly, perhaps as part of the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2003, which is waiting for full Senate approval.

    As we work to reestablish the free flow of trade with a liberated Iraq, I believe it is very important that we in Congress remain mindful of the need to take steps to protect Iraq's cultural heritage. Our bill will ensure that going forward we continue to adhere to the full spirit of Resolution 1483 and avoid any break in the protections afforded to Iraqi antiquities. Our bill also provides an important signal of our commitment to preserving Iraq's resources for the benefit of the Iraqi people. It is time to close the potential gap in protections, and pass the EPIC Antiquities Act of 2003.

    I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.