Chapter V Cultural Relics in Private Collections

Article 66 The state encourages citizens and organizations to collect cultural relics legally and strengthens the guidance, management and services for private collections.

Article 67 Citizens and organizations other than cultural relics collection entities may collect cultural relics obtained through any of the following means:

(1) lawful inheritance or acceptance of donations;

(2) purchase from cultural relics sales entities;

(3) purchase from auction enterprises engaged in the auction of cultural relics (hereinafter referred to as the "cultural relics auction enterprises");

(4) mutual exchange of the cultural relics lawfully owned by individual citizens or transfer of such cultural relics in accordance with law; or

(5) other lawful means prescribed by the state.

Cultural relics, as specified in the preceding paragraph, which are in the collection of citizens and organizations other than cultural relics collection entities, may be circulated in accordance with law.

Article 68 It is prohibited to purchase or sell the following cultural relics:

(1) state-owned cultural relics, except the ones with the approval of the state;

(2) murals, sculptures, components of buildings and other elements in state-owned immovable cultural relics, except for the ones in the state-owned immovable cultural relics legally dismantled that are not to be collected by cultural relics collection entities as prescribed in the fourth paragraph of Article 31 of this Law;

(3) non-state-owned valuable cultural relics in institutional collections;

(4) stolen cultural relics as notified or announced by the relevant departments of the State Council and other cultural relics whose sources do not comply with the provisions of Article 67 of this Law; or

(5) lost cultural relics notified or announced by foreign governments or relevant international organizations in accordance with relevant international conventions.

Article 69 The state encourages citizens and organizations other than cultural relics collection entities to donate or lend the cultural relics in their collections to cultural relics collection entities for exhibition and research.

Cultural relics collection entities shall respect and comply with the wishes of donors and keep the donated relics in proper collection and preservation, and on display appropriately.

No cultural relics that the state prohibits from leaving the country may be transferred, leased, mortgaged or pledged to overseas organizations or individuals.

Article 70 A cultural relics sales entity shall obtain the license for cultural relics sales issued by the administrative department of cultural heritage of the people's government of a province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government.

No cultural relics sales entity may engage in the auction of cultural relics or set up any cultural relics auction enterprise.

Article 71 Where an auction enterprise established in accordance with law engages in the auctions of cultural relics, it shall obtain the license for auction of cultural relics issued by the administrative department of cultural heritage of the people's government of a province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government.

Cultural relics auction enterprises may not engage in any business activities of selling cultural relics or set up any cultural relics sales entity.

Article 72 The staff of administrative departments of cultural heritage shall not establish or participate in the establishment of any cultural relics sales entity or cultural relics auction enterprise.

Cultural relics collection entities or their staff may not establish or participate in the establishment of any cultural relics sales entity or cultural relics auction enterprise.

It is prohibited to establish any foreign-funded cultural relics sales entity or cultural relics auction enterprise.

Except for the cultural relics sales entities or cultural relics auction enterprises, no entity or person may engage in cultural relics commercial operations.

Article 73 Cultural relics sales entities may not sell and cultural relics auction enterprises may not auction the cultural relics provided in Article 68 of this Law.

Prior to the auction, a cultural relics auction enterprise shall have the cultural relics reviewed by the administrative department of cultural heritage of the people's government of a province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, and reported to the administrative department of cultural heritage under the State Council for record.

When selling or auctioning cultural relics, cultural relics sales entities or cultural relics auction enterprises shall truthfully disclose the relevant information on cultural relics and shall not engage in false advertising.

Article 74 The administrative departments of cultural heritage of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities directly under the Central Government shall establish information and credit management systems on cultural relics' purchase, sales, and auction, and promote integrity in cultural relics circulation. Cultural relics sales entities and cultural relics auction enterprises shall, in accordance with the relevant regulations of the state, keep records of the cultural relics they purchased, sold or auctioned, and submit the records to the administrative departments of cultural heritage of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities directly under the Central Government for record within 30 days after the sales or auction.

Unless otherwise stipulated by laws and administrative regulations, an administrative department of cultural heritage shall keep the identity of a client or buyer confidential upon the client's or buyer's request when auctioning cultural relics.

Article 75 When an administrative department of cultural heritage examines and verifies the cultural relics to be auctioned, it may designate a state-owned cultural relics collection entity to enjoy the priority in purchasing the valuable ones. The price may be determined through negotiations between the representatives of the state-owned cultural relics collection entities and the consignor of the cultural relics.

Article 76 Banks, smelters, paper mills and entities for material recovery from waste shall be jointly responsible with the local administrative departments of cultural heritage for sorting out cultural relics from the gold and silver articles and waste materials. The cultural relics sorted out, except for the historical currency needed for research by banks that may be kept by the People's Bank of China, shall be turned over to the local administrative departments of cultural heritage. Reasonable compensation shall be paid for turning over those sorted out cultural relics.

Chapter VI Exit and Entry of Cultural Relics

Article 77 State-owned cultural relics, valuable cultural relics among the non-state-owned ones, or other cultural relics prohibited by the state from being taken out of China may not be exported; exceptions are the ones allowed for exhibition overseas in accordance with the provisions of this Law or for special purposes upon approval by the State Council.

The specific scope of cultural relics prohibited from export shall be stipulated and announced by the administrative department of cultural heritage under the State Council.

Article 78 Cultural relics to be taken out of the country shall be examined by the authority for the exit and entry of cultural relics designated by the administrative department of cultural heritage under the State Council. Cultural relics that are allowed to be taken out of the country after examination shall obtain an exit permit issued by the administrative department of cultural heritage under the State Council and shall exit from the port designated by the department.

Cultural relics to be transported, mailed or taken out of the country by any entity or person shall be declared to the customs which shall release them on the strength of their exit permit.

Article 79 Cultural relics to be taken out of the country for exhibition shall be subject to approval by the administrative department of cultural heritage under the State Council; if the number of Grade I cultural relics exceeds the quota fixed by the State Council, approval from the State Council is required.

One-of-a-kind or fragile relics among the Grade I cultural relics are prohibited from being taken out of the country for exhibition.

Cultural relics to be taken out of the country for exhibition shall be verified and registered by the authority for the exit and entry of cultural relics. The customs shall release the said cultural relics on the strength of the approval document issued by the administrative department of cultural heritage under the State Council or by the State Council. The re-entry of the cultural relics into the country that have been taken out for exhibition shall be subject to verification and inspection by the same authority for the exit and entry of cultural relics that verified and registered them.

Article 80 Temporary entry of cultural relics into the country shall be declared to the customs and subject to verification by the authority for the exit and entry of cultural relics and be registered accordingly. Where the authority for exit and entry of cultural relics finds that the temporarily inbound cultural relics belong to the ones stipulated in Article 68 of this Law, it shall report to the administrative department of cultural heritage under the State Council and inform the customs.

Before leaving the country, the temporarily inbound cultural relics must be verified and inspected by the authority for the exit and entry of cultural relics that originally verified and registered them; if no problems are found, the administrative department of cultural heritage under the State Council shall issue an exit permit for these cultural relics, on the strength of which the customs shall release them.

Article 81 The state strengthens international cooperation in the repatriation and return of cultural relics. The administrative department of cultural heritage under the State Council shall, in accordance with law, work with the relevant departments to repatriate the cultural relics lost overseas due to theft or illegal exit; the department shall return the foreign cultural relics illegally entering the territory of China in cooperation with relevant countries on the basis of relevant treaties, agreements, accords or the principle of reciprocity.

The state reserves the right to repatriate the cultural relics lost overseas due to theft or illegal exit, and such right is not subject to the statute of limitations.

Chapter VII Legal Liability

Article 82 Where local people's governments at all levels, or the relevant departments of the people's governments at or above the county level, or any of their staff members as well as other persons performing public duties in accordance with law, in violation of the provisions of this Law, abuse their powers, neglect their duties, engage in malpractice for personal gains, the responsible leaders and directly responsible persons shall be sanctioned in accordance with law.

Article 83 Where an entity or a person engages in any of the following acts, the administrative department of cultural heritage of a people's government at or above the county level shall order corrections and impose a warning; where the damage is caused to cultural relics or there are other serious consequences, the department shall impose a fine of not less than RMB 500,000 yuan but not more than RMB 5 million yuan on the entity liable, and a fine of not less than RMB 50,000 yuan but not more than RMB 500,000 yuan on the person liable, and order the entity or the person liable to bear the costs of repairing and restoring the relevant cultural relics, and the authority that originally issued the qualification certificate shall lower the qualification level of the liable entity; where the circumstances are serious, the department shall impose on the entity liable a fine of not less than RMB 5 million yuan but not more than RMB 10 million yuan, and the original authority that issued the certificate shall revoke it:

(1) without authorization, conducting construction projects other than cultural relics protection projects, or blasting, drilling or digging operations in the protection area of protected sites of cultural relics;

(2) without authorization, conducting construction projects based on the project design plan without consent from the administrative department of cultural heritage in the construction control zone around protected sites of cultural relics;

(3) without authorization, conducting construction projects without formulating any in-situ protective measures for immovable cultural relics, or without seeking approval from the administrative department of cultural heritage of the in-situ protective measures for immovable cultural relics;

(4) without authorization, relocating or dismantling immovable cultural relics;

(5) without authorization, repairing immovable cultural relics, resulting in the significant change of their original state;

(6) without authorization, conducting in-situ reconstruction of the ruined immovable cultural relics;

(7) without authorization or the qualification certificate for cultural relics protection projects, conducting repair, relocation or reconstruction of cultural relics; or

(8) conducting large-scale capital projects, or the construction projects in the protection area or construction control zone around protected sites of cultural relics, without conducting archaeological surveys and exploration in accordance with law.

Anyone who damages the signs for protecting immovable cultural relics put up in accordance with this Law shall be given a warning by the administrative department of cultural heritage of a people's government at or above the county level, and may also be fined not more than RMB 500 yuan.

Article 84 Where an act of putting up the facilities in the protection area or construction control zone around protected sites of cultural relics, pollutes the sites and the environment, the competent department of ecology and environment shall impose a penalty in accordance with law.

Article 85 Where an entity or a person, in violation of the provisions of this Law, engages in any of the following acts, the administrative department of cultural heritage of a people's government at or above the county level shall order corrections, impose warning or circulation of notice of criticism, and confiscate unlawful gains; if the amount of such unlawful gains reaches RMB 5,000 yuan, the department shall impose a fine of not less than twice but not more than ten times the amount of the unlawful gains; if there is no unlawful gains or the amount of the unlawful gains is less than RMB 5,000 yuan, it shall concurrently impose a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan:

(1) transferring or mortgaging state-owned immovable cultural relics;

(2) converting the state-owned immovable cultural relics that have been used to establish museums, repositories of cultural relics or tourist sites to the assets of enterprises for business operation, or converting their management institutions under enterprise management;

(3) transferring or mortgaging non-state-owned immovable cultural relics to foreign nationals, foreign organizations or international organizations; or

(4) without authorization, converting memorial buildings or ancient buildings in state-owned protected sites of cultural relics for other purposes.

Article 86 Where the layout, environment, or historical features of a famous historical and cultural city are seriously undermined, the State Council shall revoke its title as a famous historical and cultural city. Where the layout, environment, or historical features of a historical and cultural block, town or village are seriously undermined, the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government concerned shall revoke its title as a historical and cultural block, town or village. The responsible leaders and directly responsible persons shall be sanctioned in accordance with law.

Article 87 Under any of the following circumstances, the administrative department of cultural heritage of a people's government at or above the county level shall order corrections, impose a warning or circulation of notice of criticism, and confiscate the unlawful gains; if the amount of such unlawful gains reaches RMB 5,000 yuan, the department shall concurrently impose a fine of not less than twice but not more than ten times the amount of such unlawful gains; if there are no unlawful gains or the amount of the unlawful gains is less than RMB 5,000 yuan, it may also impose a fine of not more than RMB 50,000 yuan:

(1) where a cultural relics collection entity fails to equip facilities against fire, theft and natural deterioration as required by the regulations of the state;

(2) where the outgoing legal representative or the principal person in charge of a cultural relics collection entity, upon departure, fails to hand over the cultural relics in accordance with the files on the cultural relics in institutional collections, or the cultural relics handed over are not in conformity with the files;

(3) where a state-owned cultural relics collection entity donates, leases, sells, mortgages, or pledges cultural relics in the collection to other entities or persons;

(4) where cultural relics in institutional collections are borrowed or exchanged in violation of the provisions of this Law; or

(5) where compensation gained from the cultural relics reallocated, exchanged or lent in accordance with law is misappropriated or embezzled.

Article 88 Where an entity or a person purchases or sells the cultural relics the purchase or sale of which the state prohibits, or transfers, leases, mortgages or pledges to overseas organizations or individuals the cultural relics that the state prohibits from being taken out of the country, the administrative department of cultural heritage of a people’s government at or above the county level shall order corrections and confiscate unlawful gains and the said cultural relics; if the amount of the illegal turnover reaches RMB 5,000 yuan, the department shall impose concurrently a fine of not less than twice but not more than ten times the illegal turnover; if there is no illegal turnover or the amount of the illegal turnover is less than RMB 5, 000 yuan, the department shall concurrently impose a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan.

Where any cultural relics sales entity or cultural relics auction enterprise commits the unlawful acts stipulated in the preceding paragraph, the administrative department of cultural heritage of a people's government at or above the county level shall confiscate the unlawful gains and the said cultural relics; if the amount of the illegal turnover reaches RMB 30,000 yuan, the department shall concurrently impose a fine of not less than twice but not more than ten times the amount of illegal turnover; if there is no illegal turnover or the amount of the illegal turnover is less than RMB 30,000 yuan, the department shall concurrently impose a fine of not less than RMB 50,000 yuan but not more than RMB 250,000 yuan; where the circumstances are serious, the original licensing authority shall revoke the license concerned.

Article 89 Where an entity or a person, without permission, engages in commercial operations in cultural relics, the administrative department of cultural heritage of a people's government at or above the county level shall order corrections, impose a warning or circulation of notice of criticism, and confiscate unlawful gains and the said cultural relics; if the amount of the illegal turnover reaches RMB 30,000 yuan, the department shall concurrently impose a fine of not less than twice but not more than ten times the amount; if there is no illegal turnover or the amount of the illegal turnover is less than RMB 30,000 yuan, the department shall concurrently impose a fine of not less than RMB 50,000 yuan but not more than RMB 250,000 yuan.

Article 90 Under any of the following circumstances, the administrative department of cultural heritage of a people's government at or above the county level shall order corrections, impose a warning or circulation of notice of criticism, and confiscate unlawful gains and the said cultural relics; if the amount of illegal turnover reaches RMB 30,000 yuan, the department shall concurrently impose a fine of not less than twice but not more than ten times the amount; if there is no illegal turnover or the amount of the illegal turnover is less than RMB 30,000 yuan, the department shall concurrently impose a fine of not less than RMB 50,000 yuan but not more than RMB 250,000 yuan; where the circumstances are serious, the original licensing authority shall revoke the license concerned:

(1) where a cultural relics sales entity engages in the auction of cultural relics;

(2) where a cultural relics auction enterprise sells cultural relics;

(3) where the cultural relics auctioned by a cultural relics auction enterprise are not examined;

(4) where a cultural relics collection entity engages in commercial operations in cultural relics; or

(5) where a cultural relics sales entity or a cultural relics auction enterprise, sells or auctions counterfeits knowingly, or engages in false advertising.

Article 91 Where an entity or a person commits any of the following acts, the administrative department of cultural heritage of the people's government at or above the county level shall work with the public security authority or the maritime law enforcement authority to retrieve the cultural relics, and give a warning; if the circumstances are serious, the department shall impose a fine of not less than RMB 100,000 yuan but not more than RMB 3 million yuan on the entity concerned and a fine of not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan on the person concerned:

(1) concealing or refusing to hand over the cultural relics discovered; or

(2) failing to turn over the cultural relics sorted out, as required by the relevant regulations.

Article 92 Where an entity or a person fails to declare the cultural relics at exit and entry in accordance with the provisions of this Law, the customs or maritime law enforcement authorities shall impose a penalty in accordance with law.

Article 93 Where an entity or a person commits any of the following acts, the administrative department of cultural heritage of a people's government at or above the county level shall order corrections; where the circumstances are serious, the entity concerned shall be fined not less than RMB 100,000 yuan but not more than RMB 3 million yuan, have business activities restricted or the license revoked by the original licensing authority, and the person concerned shall be fined not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan:

(1) failing to report, as required by this Law, the change of use of the state-owned unrated immovable cultural relics;

(2) failing to file for record, as required by this Law, the transfer or mortgage of non-state-owned immovable cultural relics, or the change of use;

(3) in the case of a user of state-owned immovable cultural relics, capable of repairing, refusing to perform the repairing obligation in accordance with law;

(4) in the case of an entity engaged in archaeological excavation, conducting archaeological excavation without authorization, failing to give a truthful report of the result of the survey, exploration and excavation, or failing to hand over excavated cultural relics in accordance with the regulations;

(5) in the case of a cultural relics collection entity, failing to set up files and management systems for the cultural relics in the collection, as required by the relevant regulations of the state, or failing to report the files and management systems concerned for record;

(6) accessing or transferring cultural relics in institutional collections without approval;

(7) restoring, duplicating or making rubbings of cultural relics without approval;

(8) in the case of a cultural relics collection entity, failing to report the damage of the cultural relics in institutional collections to the administrative department of cultural heritage for examination and handling, or failing to report in a timely manner to a public security organ or the administrative department of cultural heritage about the stolen, looted or missing cultural relics in its collections; or

(9) in the case of a cultural relics sales entity selling cultural relics or a cultural relics auction enterprise auctioning cultural relics, failing to keep records of the cultural relics sold or auctioned, or failing to submit the records to an administrative department of cultural heritage for record, as required by the relevant regulations of the state.

Article 94 Where a staff member of an administrative department of cultural heritage, a cultural relics collection entity, a cultural relics sales entity or a cultural relics auction enterprise commits any of the following acts, he shall be given sanctions in accordance with law; where the circumstances are serious, he shall be expelled from public office or his professional qualification certificate shall be revoked in accordance with law:

(1)in the case of a staff member of an administrative department of cultural heritage or a state-owned cultural relics collection entity, borrowing or illegally embezzling state-owned cultural relics;

(2) in the case of a staff member of an administrative department of cultural heritage or a cultural relics collection entity, establishing or participating in the establishment of a cultural relics sales entity or cultural relics auction enterprise;

(3) acting irresponsibly, resulting in damage or destruction to protected sites of cultural relics or valuable cultural relics, or missing of such relics; or

(4) embezzling or misappropriating the budget earmarked for cultural relics protection.

No persons expelled from public office or whose professional qualification certificate is revoked in the preceding paragraph may be employed as the administrative staff members of cultural relics or engaged in cultural relics business operations within 10 years from the date of such expulsion or revocation.

Article 95 Where an entity is subject to an administrative penalty for violating the provisions of this Law, and the circumstances are serious, the directly responsible persons in charge and other directly responsible persons shall be subject to a fine of not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan.

Article 96 Where any act in violation of this Law causes damage to the civil rights and interests of others, the violator shall bear the civil liability in accordance with law; where the act constitutes a violation of the administration of public security, the public security organ shall impose an administrative penalty for public security in accordance with law; where the act constitutes a crime, the violator shall bear criminal liability in accordance with law.

Article 97 Administrative departments of cultural heritage of the people's governments at or above the county level may take the following measures for supervision and inspection in accordance with law:

(1) entering a site to conduct inspections;

(2) reviewing and copying relevant documents and materials, inquiring with relevant personnel, and sealing the documents and materials that may be moved, destroyed or tampered with;

(3) sealing up and seizing the premises, facilities or properties suspected of illegal activities; or

(4) ordering the violator to stop the infringement upon cultural relics.

Article 98 The cultural relics that have been confiscated by supervisory commissions, people's courts, people's procuratorates, public security organs, the customs, administrations for market regulation and maritime law enforcement organs in accordance with law shall be registered, preserved properly and, after conclusion of the cases, turned over gratis to the administrative departments of cultural heritage, which designate state-owned cultural relics collection entities for collection.

Article 99 Where an entity or a person causes serious damage to cultural relics or brings about the risk of serious damage in violation of the provisions of this Law, resulting in the infringement upon public interests, a people's procuratorate may initiate a public interest litigation against such an act in accordance with the provisions of the relevant procedural law.

Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions

Article 100 Where this Law does not provide the conditions and duration for relevant administrative permission for the protection of cultural relics, the provisions of the Administrative Permission Law of the People's Republic of China, other relevant laws and administrative regulations shall apply.

Article 101 This Law shall go into effect on March 1, 2025.