The criminal policy on trafficking in cultural goods

Abstract

In recent years the international community has shown interest in intervening to combat the flourishing illegal art market, so much so that it has acted several times with hard and soft law instruments, albeit with unsatisfactory results. This is also due to the fact that the fight against illegal trafficking has hitherto been considered as a sub-sector of the war on organised crime, taking the tools of intervention from this. An illegal trade, however, such as the trade in cultural goods, which has absolutely peculiar characteristics compared to other illicit markets, does not lend itself to such a crime-fighting technique, becoming useful ground to reflect upon for an autonomous rewriting of the discipline of combating illicit trafficking. Considering illegal markets not as battlegrounds for criminal associations, but as physiological centres of exchange driven by the logic of profit, can make it possible to outline holistic law enforcement regulations that are more effective and more respectful of individual rights.