Laws on fossil collecting

[Ilja Nieuwland <ilja@mac.com>]

Hi there,

I have been interested in paleontology for some time, and one problem 
that keeps cropping up from time to time (especially in continental 
Europe) is the vast difference in legislature regarding the collection 
and ownership of fossils. In some countries (e.g., Italy), all 
vertebrate fossil remains are treated like antropological remains (and 
subsequently disappear into dark museum drawers), in others there is no 
legislature at all. Especially in Europe the problem can be acute: there 
seems to be no general juristic principle and a lot of workers are 
working in a lot of different countries, all with different rules and 
jurisprudence. But I can also imagine that, to name a totally fictitious 
example, a US expedition may benefit from being aware of Egyptian law on 
the subject.

Now, I thought it might be a good idea to collect all local laws 
regarding fossil collection on one central place, so that either 
professional or amateur collectors might get some insight in what they 
can and cannot do when visiting a site abroad. Since I (nor anyone else 
that I know) don't have the time and expertise to look into every single 
country's laws, I thought this might be a worthwile collective effort 
and the result might be put on the web somewhere for everyone to study.

Contributions are welcomed.

Ilja