Cultural Heritage Administration Expands Participation in 'Important Cultural Heritage Overseas Auctions'

Administrative Notice on the Amendment of the "Regulations on the Emergency Purchase of Important Cultural Heritage"
Up to 10% Additional 'Ceiling Price' Allowed for Emergency Purchases

Daedongyeojido 23 volumes repatriated by the Cultural Heritage Administration in March last year.
[Photo by Cultural Heritage Administration]

The government will establish a flexible response basis for the purchase of cultural heritage located abroad.

According to academia on the 28th, the Cultural Heritage Administration announced an administrative notice on the 26th regarding a partial amendment to the "Regulations on the Emergency Purchase of Important Cultural Heritage Located Domestically and Abroad," which includes grounds for flexible responses during emergency purchases of overseas cultural heritage.

Through this, in the future, it will be possible to participate in auctions beyond the set price range to avoid missing out on nationally designated treasures and cultural heritage scattered overseas.

Currently, Korean cultural heritage dispersed abroad is being repatriated through donations, purchases, loans, and other methods. Among these, cultural heritage with significant historical and cultural value or a high possibility of being taken overseas can be urgently purchased using the Cultural Heritage Protection Fund under the current "Cultural Heritage Protection Fund Act."

If the emergency purchase process is deemed necessary, a review committee composed of experts from various fields discusses and finalizes whether to purchase the cultural heritage and the upper limit price for auction bidding.

However, since the bidding range is fixed, there have been continuous criticisms that flexible responses are not possible in highly competitive auctions.

The Cultural Heritage Administration has newly established a legal basis allowing additional expenditure within 10% of the upper limit price in cases where emergency purchase is necessary, to prevent losing valuable cultural heritage due to such price ceiling standards.

The amendment allows spending more than the auction bidding upper limit price or sales contract upper limit price, if pre-approved, when it is necessary to secure artifacts due to "unexpected circumstances."

In other words, the amount available to use within the possible budget has increased. For example, if the set upper limit price is 10,000 won, from now on, bids up to 11,000 won can be submitted.

Additionally, the amendment includes provisions that in urgent situations such as real-time auction bidding, approval can be obtained afterward.

The Cultural Heritage Administration plans to receive opinions on the amendment until March 17. After further discussions, the finalized content will be implemented from May 17, when the system changes to the "National Heritage" framework.