Owners of lands where treasures will be found will be entitled to award

The legal regime of the monuments and sites will be regulated by a bill on the protection of the archeological patrimony that was formulated in accordance with international conventions and UNESCO recommendations, Minister of Culture Boris Focsa said, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. “Following the switch to the market economy based on different patterns of ownership, the archeological sites in Moldova started to deteriorate after 1994. Specialists say its happens because there is no coherent and appropriate legal framework that would ensure the real and efficient protection of the national cultural patrimony,” the minister said. The bill that was approved by the Government concerns mainly preventive archeology. For the first time, it is stated that the preventive archeological researches are a component part of the local and national sustainable development and territorial arrangement strategies. In order to avoid the destruction of the archeological patrimony, the bill obliges the legal entities and private individuals to coordinate their actions with the responsible services of the Ministry of Culture, as they can affect the national archeological heritage directly and indirectly by their acts. Archeological excavations on public or private plots of land can be carried out only after obtaining an archeological research authorization from the Archeology Commission of the Ministry of Culture. The bill also says that the archeological excavations will be performed by specialized personnel and will be included in the Archeological Register so that the observance of the archeological norms and standards could be monitored. The bill also says that the found treasures are to be yielded to the state within 72 hours. The owner of the land on which the treasuries are discovered and the discoverer will be entitled to an award, in accordance with the Civil Code. No award is provided if the treasure is found during archeological excavations or other legal investigations.