From: "Taurins, Irene" ITaurins@philamuseum.org>
Subject: Re: Immunity from Seizure process
Date: Sunday, May 20, 2001 3:59 PM
Immunity from seizure used to be fairly easy and straightforward when administered by the USIA. Since the USIA no longer exists, it is now done through the Department of State. It is still, to my knowledge, fairly straightforward, but getting more complicated and demanding on provenance research. The last time I applied, a year ago (things may have changed since than), I just:
1) Wrote a letter to Lorie J. Nierenberg, Assistant Legal Advisor, Department of State. The following is an example of the letter which I "borrowed" from the National Gallery, years ago. Incidentally, the National Gallery legal staff are wonderful sources of information and help.:
Office of the General Counsel Department of State, SA44 301 Fourth Street, S. W. Room 700 Washington, D. C. 20547 Attention: Lorie J. Nierenberg, Assistant Legal Advisor
Dear Ms. Nierenberg:
I write to request that you cause to be published in the Federal Register notice pursuant to 22 U.S.C. §2459 which, with the satisfaction of the other conditions contained in the statute, would render immune from judicial seizure the works coming to the United States for the exhibition, THE ARTS OF HON'AMI KOETSU, JAPANESE RENAISSANCE MASTER. The exhibition is scheduled to be shown at The Philadelphia Museum of Art from July 29, 2000 - October 29, 2000. Thereafter the works will be returned to their lenders.
I enclose a list of 83 works coming from abroad which we presently anticipate will be included in the exhibition and which are scheduled to arrive in the United States beginning on or around July 14, 2000. A standard loan agreement form, sample copies of which is enclosed, have been executed with the non Japanese foreign lenders. The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan (Bunkacho) has agreements with and represents all the Japanese lenders. A contract between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Bunkacho has been executed.
I enclose a statement of Anne d'Harnoncourt, the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Director, regarding the cultural significance of the works.
The exhibition will be administered and sponsored by the Philadelphia Museum of Art without profit, which is a tax-exempt organization under I.R.C. 501(c)(3).
The applicant certifies that it has undertaken adequate professional inquiry -- including independent, multi source research - into the provenance of the objects proposed for determinations of cultural significance and national interest. The applicant certifies further that it does not know or have reason to know of any circumstances with respect to any of the objects that would indicate the potential for competing claims of ownership. Thank you for your cooperation as we believe that publication of the notice is vital to our ensuring the security of the works in the exhibition. Since we do not subscribe to the Federal Register, we would appreciate it if you could send us confirmation when our request should appear.
Sincerely,
2) Attached a list WITHOUT VALUES. Please note that they will ask you for a list including description and values. Whatever you send is subject to freedom of information (people can ask and get this information). I feel strongly that they do not need value information to render works immune from seizure. I have never sent them values and I have always received Immunity from Seizure.
3) I also send a SAMPLE loan agreement, rather than the executed loan agreement. Again, for the same reason. They ask for a copy of the "agreement entered into between the foreign owner or custodian thereof and the United States or one or more cultural or educational institutions within the US providing for the temporary exhibition". You should have a signed loan agreement, and they do ask for them, but I again feel that the information on loan agreements should not be exposed to freedom of information.
4) Enclose a statement on the cultural significance of the exhibition. I usually already have a statement from our Indemnity application which I reuse for the Immunity application. Immunity from seizure was actually set up to help with cultural exchanges and therefore your statement should have some wording showing the significance of the exhibition.
5) You must be a non-profit and attach a copy of your tax-exempt status or show that the exhibition is being administered without profit to the borrowing and lending institutions.
6) Finally, they are now asking you to check for provenance and let them know if there are any gaps or problems. This is a fairly recent request. The irony here is that this was set up, specifically to protect works from seizure, if their is a claim. By the way, it is my understanding that this is all purely
It is important that you apply several months before you expect your first shipment (they work slowly). You are usually assigned a lawyer who you can call with questions, but they are usually pretty busy. It has been my experience that they usually publish JUST before your first shipment, so be cautious with that date. It is also my experience that they NEVER actually tell you when it is published and you therefore need to check the Federal Register web site yourself or call them. The web site is: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html
I hope this helps and let us know if things have changed. Irene