Apply for a permit for the temporary export of national cultural property

You need a license to export national cultural property from Germany (Sections 22, 25 and 26 of the Cultural Property Protection Act). Cultural property includes, for example, works of art, archaeological objects, archival materials, manuscripts or antiques such as furniture, musical instruments or jewelry.

National cultural property is cultural property that is

• is entered in a register of nationally valuable cultural property,
• is publicly owned and held by a public institution that preserves cultural property (e.g. a museum, archive, library),
• is owned and held by a cultural property preservation institution (e.g., museum, archive, library) that is predominantly financed by public grants, or
• is part of a federal or state art collection.

You can apply for the permit at the competent authority. A distinction is made between permanent and temporary export. The export is temporary if it is for a period of no more than 5 years, limited from the beginning.

You apply for a permit for the temporary export of national cultural property in writing to the competent authority of the federal state,

• in whose register of nationally valuable cultural property the cultural object is entered, or
  
  • if the cultural property is not registered, in the federal state in which the cultural property is located at the time of application.

If you are a legal entity, your head office in the federal territory is decisive for local jurisdiction.

You can apply in writing to the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media for a permit for the permanent export of national cultural property (Section 23 of the Cultural Property Protection Act).

Note: You can also use a new online procedure in pilot operation to apply for export licenses for cultural property. The online procedure includes an optional pre-check to determine, based on a few questions, whether an export license is needed in a specific case. In general, you no longer have to select the correct application yourself; it is determined automatically on the basis of the information provided. The pilot operation serves to further test and optimize the procedure.

At the same time, the procedure is to be expanded by the end of 2022 so that digital issuing of the license is also possible.

Requirements

A permit for the one-time temporary export of national cultural property (§ 22 Cultural Property Protection Act) will be issued to you if

• you are entitled to apply,
  
  • as the owner or an authorized third party
• you have submitted the required documents and
• you, as the applicant, guarantee that the cultural property intended for export will be reintroduced into the Federal Republic of Germany in an undamaged condition and in due time.

A permit for the repeated temporary export of national cultural property (general open permit, Section 25 of the Cultural Property Protection Act) can be issued to you if

• you are entitled to apply
  
  • as an institution preserving cultural property which regularly exports parts of its holdings temporarily for public exhibitions, restoration or research purposes,
• you have submitted the required documents
• you, as the applicant, can guarantee that the cultural property intended for export will be reintroduced into the Federal territory in an undamaged condition and in due time.

You may be granted a license for the repeated temporary export of a specific cultural object (specific open license, Section 26 of the Cultural Property Protection Act) if

• you are entitled to apply
  
  • as the owner or legal direct owner of the cultural object,
• you have submitted the required documents
• you, as the applicant, guarantee that the cultural object intended for export will be reintroduced into the Federal Republic of Germany in an undamaged condition and in due time.

What documents do I need?

• Written application for export of cultural goods or online application with authentication
• Power of attorney when applying by proxy
• Justification of the application for a general open or specific open export license
• If necessary, further proofs
  

  such as means of identification, loan agreements, proofs of value, etc.