Space precludes a worldwide country by country survey of national heritage legislation, but a broad regional survey will indicate commonalities. Heritage legislation in Europe must be seen in relation to individual nations and two transnational organizations, the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe (COE). The Consolidated Treaty Establishing the European Community’ states that the EU shall ‘‘respect national and regional cultural [including religious and linguistic] diversity’’ and act to conserve and safeguard the ‘‘cultural heritage of European significance.’’ The COE is not an EU institution, but a cooperative intergovernmental agency of 46 member states focused on human rights, promotion of cultural diversity, and protection of heritage. The COE issues hortatory conventions - those relating to heritage include a general 1954 Cultural Convention; a 1969 Archaeological Heritage Protection, revised in 1992; and a 1985 Architectural Heritage Convention. There is also a 1992 European Plan for Archaeology, a cooperative charter for archaeological research and enhancing heritage legislation. All European nations not in membership of the EU have heritage legislation and implementing agencies, many of them well organized and effective.
Heritage legislation and agencies vary widely in Asian countries. China has some national heritage legislation, but more is required given the enormous development projects underway in the early years of the twenty-first century and their impacts on heritage resources. Japan, by contrast, has a long history of heritage legislation extending back to 1919, focused on both tangible and intangible heritage, the latter including music, drama, and folk culture. Tangible heritage includes places of scenic beauty, both cultural and natural landscapes such as gardens and bridges, gorges, seashores, and mountains. Other South Asian and Southeast Asian nations have varying levels of heritage legislation and implementing agencies. They range from legislative declarations calling for the protection of national heritage, for example, Cambodia, to Thailand, which has a highly organized heritage preservation system of agencies and museums that have been in existence for decades. Malaysia has no effective heritage legislation, but created a Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Heritage in 2004. There is an Asia-Pacific consortium of heritage-oriented NGOs sharing information about developing effective national heritage legislation and organizations. Since colonial times, India has had a suite of heritage laws and related administrative agencies.
In Africa the levels of heritage legislation and implementing agencies vary widely. Egypt was among the first nations, beginning in the nineteenth century, to attempt to control, through legislation and permitting systems, the outflow of its cultural heritage to the museums and art markets of the world. The effectiveness of the efforts varied widely over time, but became more systematic and effective after World War II and the establishment of Egypt as a fully independent nation in 1954.
Heritage legislation in other African nations was often based on whatever colonial legislation had been implemented by the European nation controlling each colonial state. After African nations achieved independence, many followed the 1970s UNESCO guidelines for formulating heritage policies and legislation and created agencies to implement the policies. Islamic countries, or countries with large Muslim populations, have heritage legislation that is often coordinated, at least in part, with traditional Islamic law.
All Caribbean nations, except Antigua, have heritage legislation, as do all the nations of Latin America. Some nations, such as Mexico, have specific treaties with the United States relating specifically to problems of trafficking in antiquities.
All nation states have definitions of what constitutes national patrimony. Some focus only on places, built heritage - sites, monuments, structures, historic districts. Others include natural and/or culturally modified landscapes, and objects - artifacts, traditional crafts and works of art, books, and archives. Still others include nontangible heritage folklore and folkways, traditional ceremonies and practices, music, and indigenous knowledge, including languages.
World History
