In France, the thematic ambassador in charge of international cooperation in the field of heritage, Jean-Louis Martinez, has just submitted his report on the restitution of cultural works looted in Africa under colonization. This report recommends imposing nine conditions on any restitution request.
Indeed, for a request to be admissible, it must be made solely by one State and without competition with another State.
Another condition is that the restitution claim must be for a work of a patrimonial nature and not for a work acquired illegally.
In light of this, this report requires that the requesting State preserve the work and present it for public viewing in a museum.
The restitution request is examined in less than 3 years and then validated by the Council of State or an intergovernmental agreement. A framework law, based on the Martinez report, will be submitted to Parliament early next year.