Collectors are requesting that sanctions be introduced into the draft Law on National Cultural Movable Patrimony for the illegal sale or damage of the items protected by this piece of proposed legislation, which is currently being subjected to public debates before being submitted for adoption. During debates at a meeting of the parliamentary Culture Commission, Mihai Ciocanu, a member of the collection and antiquarian community, said that law should expressly establish fines for illegal practices in dealing with national heritage. Varvara Buzila, vice director at the National Museum of History and Natural Ethnography, explained that sanctions for such illegal acts were already contained in the Criminal Code, the Civil Code, and Code of Administrative Offenses. Deputy Culture Minister Gheorghe Postica noted that the draft Law was necessary because Moldova had lost over the years a considerable number of valuable patrimony items, such as old books and manuscripts, archeological items and antique icons. The draft Law contains provisions concerning the procedures of recovering cultural items that were illegally sold abroad and of returning cultural items that were illegally imported into Moldova. Other provisions include the rights and obligations of antique dealers as well as authorization procedures. The National Cultural Movable Patrimony is defined as objects that have a historical, archeological, documentary, ethnographic, artistic, scientific, technical, literary, cinematographic, heraldic, bibliophilic, cartographic or epigraphical value.