Return of the cultural objects under international and European Union law: experience of Lithuanian law

Тhe paper analyses the problems related to return of the cultural objects, which arise in the legal system of the Republic of Lithuania. The analysis deals with the issues of the relations between the domestic law, international law and the law of the European Union. Special attention is devoted to the influence of the UNIDROIT Convention on stolen or illegally exported cultural objects, Council Directive 2014/60/ЕU on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State, and international treaties with provisional application. Relationships of such institutes of civil law like protection of the rights of the owner and the aquisitors of the cultural property in good faith, on one hand, and the corresponding institutes of the international and European Union law as return to the owner and compensation to the possessor of the cultural property, on the other hand, are analysed. The practice of the Lithuanian legislator and judiciary is not to apply the institute of vindication for the protection of the rights of the owner of the cultural objects. It also differs from the traditional solution of the problems with the return of the cultural objects according to the national civil law. The paper analyses the issues related to recognition of the rights of the owner and changes in the evidence presumption. The legal regulation of the Republic of Lithuania on the return of cultural objects is based on the norms of the UNIDROIT Convention on stolen or illegally exported cultural objects and Council Directive 2014/60/ЕU on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State. The Article demonstrates the specialities of the interpretation in the national legal system of the institutes of these legal acts. The courts of the general jurisdiction dealt with the claims on return of the cultural properties, which belonged to the foreign subjects – Federal Republic of Germany and Foundation Cultural Heritage of Prussia. A special issue had been the question of the application of the international and European Union law in the courts practice, which is also addressed in the Article. According to the results of the analysis of the practice of legislator and judiciary of the Republic of Lithuania, it is proposed to treat the return of the cultural property as an independent measure of protection of the rights of the owner. UNIDROIT convention on stolen or illegally exported cultural objects and Council Directive 2014/60/ЕU on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State carries in that context the primary importance