March 1999 saw the introduction of two codes of due dilligence for art dealers and auctioneers by the Council for the Prevention of Art Theft (CoPAT). They were initiated in response to increasing concerns about art and antiques theft and its introduction on to the international arts market.
Theft of antiques wears away at public confidence, discourages purchases and also creates financial risks. Therefore all section of the art market would benefit from reduced criminal activity. If the CoPAT codes are followed, they will serve to protect art dealers and auctioneers from thieves. The Code for dealers encourages them to request that those selling antiques give thier name and address and a fill out a form to state that the item is for sale and that the seller is authorised to sell it. This form must be dated. The intention of this process is to identify new sellers and verify their details.
Dealers should be suspicious of items offered for sale at a price that does not bear relevance to its market value. There are a number of steps they couldtake if they believe an item is stolen:
Dealers should be critical of any occurence where they are asked to pay in cash and should avoid doing so unless there is a convincing reason for such a transaction. If such a reason does not exist, they should pay by cheque or another method that gives an audit trail.
Dealers should have an awareness of the regulations on money laundering.
Senior staff should be appointed to whom employees can report any suspicious activities and all staff should be made aware of the above responsibilities and their part in the prevention of arts crimes.
The Codes are not intended to solve the problems that illegal export and the smuggling of antiques causes. This means that any items dug up during unrecorded, illegal excavations will not appear on any stolen antiques register. One thing this means is that even if a piece does not appear on any stolen antiques registers, it does not guarantee its legality.
The CoPAT Codes depart from previous codes in the attention it draws to money laundering and its concerns for crime outside the theft and handling of stolen art and antiques. This was not an unexpected move. Scotland Yard has revealed that the majority of art stolen is taken for the purpose of money-laundering.
Dealers in art and antiques are equally at risk from money-laundering as they are from thieves. Since the late 1980's a series of Acts have passed with the aim of discouraging crime by depriving the criminals of the proceeds of their thefts. This has been further strengthened by the 1993 Money Laundering Regulations which ratified the EU Directive 91/308/EEC from the 10th June 1991 designed to combat money laundering across Europe. These laws have proved themselves more able to combat art crimes and the illicit trade in antiques than the 1968 Theft Act.
Under the 1968 Act a dealer can be convicted of handling stolen goods if it can be shown that there was a reasonable cause to believe that the goods were stolen.