TheClawGuy Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 2 hours ago, steelhead9 said: No one to my knowledge has ever been convicted in this country for importing fossils from China or Mongolia. All the convictions have been for falsifying customs documents. Even in the most famous case of the tarbosaur the only charge and conviction was a customs violation. Nothing to do with fossils. I would not advise anyone to go against the federal government, but I am still curious as to what Us laws prohibit the import of fossils from China and Mongolia. The National Stolen Property Act One of the principal statutes used to counter antiquities trafficking is the NSPA, which penalizes the possession, concealment, sale or disposal of items that have crossed a state or U.S. border after being stolen, unlawfully converted, or taken.[12] The NSPA may be used to support criminal prosecutions or in conjunction with customs laws to seek civil forfeiture. Analogous state stolen property laws have been used by state and local prosecutors to similar effect. I didn’t read all of it but it is a law and there’s many cases out there. The US recognizes foreign country’s export laws. Vertebrae fossils are not allow to be exported from those countries by their laws, therefore it’s illegal to import them to the US. I read articles of Mongolian fossils being seized without proof of falsifying claims forms... it’s simply illegal to own them. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcfossilcollector Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 2 hours ago, steelhead9 said: No one to my knowledge has ever been convicted in this country for importing fossils from China or Mongolia. All the convictions have been for falsifying customs documents. Even in the most famous case of the tarbosaur the only charge and conviction was a customs violation. Nothing to do with fossils. I would not advise anyone to go against the federal government, but I am still curious as to what Us laws prohibit the import of fossils from China and Mongolia. I’m not certain as to the actual letter of the law but as I recall from the Tarbosaurus incident of a few years ago, the customs declaration was falsified to hide the fact that the fossils being imported from Mongolia were illegal to import in the first place. There are international agreements that exist wherein participating countries agree to honour import restrictions on items/specimens deemed culturally important to a country in question. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcfossilcollector Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 @TheClawGuy thanks for providing clarity as to the letter of the law Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelhead9 Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 11 hours ago, bcfossilcollector said: I’m not certain as to the actual letter of the law but as I recall from the Tarbosaurus incident of a few years ago, the customs declaration was falsified to hide the fact that the fossils being imported from Mongolia were illegal to import in the first place. There are international agreements that exist wherein participating countries agree to honour import restrictions on items/specimens deemed culturally important to a country in question. That is good to know. It has always been my understanding that we do not have such agreements with China and Mongolia, unlike the one we have, for example with Argentina, which does prohibit the importation of fossils. Anyway, it’s all pretty moot to me, but I have always been curious about the actual laws. Still Life Fossils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pemphix Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 On 5.3.2019 at 2:45 AM, steelhead9 said: No one to my knowledge has ever been convicted in this country for importing fossils from China or Mongolia. All the convictions have been for falsifying customs documents. Even in the most famous case of the tarbosaur the only charge and conviction was a customs violation. Nothing to do with fossils. I would not advise anyone to go against the federal government, but I am still curious as to what Us laws prohibit the import of fossils from China and Mongolia. In my understanding this is not the case - there was obviously more than "just" a customs violation as you can read in several publications on the bataar-case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._One_Tyrannosaurus_Bataar_Skeleton In this article esp. see: "Judgement" and "Legacy" https://nypost.com/2018/09/05/inside-the-fossil-smuggling-operation-that-stretched-from-mongolia-to-nyc/ http://www.nbcnews.com/id/47737557/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/yep-tyrannosaur-definitely-mongolia-experts-find/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/tarbosaurus-the-tip-of-the-black-market-iceberg-83223504/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pemphix Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 P.S.: Furthermore, I do not know how the legal stuff is in US exactly but in germany there's one legal consensus saying: "Ignorance does not protect one from punishment"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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