Several Provisions of Pudong New Area of Shanghai Municipality on the Trade of Cultural Relics and Artworks

(August 27,2022)

No.125

(Adopted at the 43rd Session of the Standing Committee of the 15th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on August 27, 2022)

Article 1

With a view to regulating and promoting the trade of cultural relics and artworks in Pudong New Area, promoting the construction of Shanghai International Cultural Relics and Artworks Trading Center, and enhancing the soft power of the city, these Provisions are formulated according to the basic principles of relevant laws and administrative rules, and in the light of the actual circumstances of Pudong New Area.

Article 2

These Provisions apply to the trading of cultural relics and artworks carried out in Pudong New Area.

Article 3

This Municipality shall adhere to the principles of upholding tradition and innovation, expanding opening-up, exchanges and mutual learning, and scientific supervision, and promote high-level opening and high-quality development of the cultural-relics and artworks market.

Those engaged in trading in cultural relics and artworks shall abide by the provisions of laws, rules and regulations on the protection of cultural relics and the business operation of artworks. It is prohibited to trade in cultural relics and artworks whose sale is prohibited by the State, or transfer, lease or pledge to foreigners or foreign organizations cultural relics whose exit from the Chinese mainland is prohibited by the State.

Article 4

The Municipal People’s Government shall strengthen cooperation with the relevant departments of the State, establish and improve the comprehensive coordination mechanism for promoting the development of the cultural-relics and artworks market in this Municipality, and coordinate major issues in the development of the cultural relics and artworks market.

Pudong New Area People’s Government shall establish a working mechanism for promoting the development of the cultural-relics and artworks market, formulate supporting policies, implement supporting measures, and relying on the area’s institutional infrastructure, opening-up advantages and available resources, promote the agglomeration and expansion of the cultural relics and artworks trading.

Article 5

The municipal administrative department of cultural relics shall be responsible for promoting the overall development of the cultural-relics and artworks market in this Municipality, and carry out relevant supervision and administration according to law.

The administrative department of cultural relics in Pudong New Area shall be responsible for formulating and implementing relevant rules, plans and standards for promoting the development of the cultural relics and artworks market in its administrative area, and carry out specific supervision and administration according to law.

The municipal and Pudong New Area departments of culture and tourism, commerce, market regulation, economy and informatization, public security, and human resources and social security, as well as the customs and foreign exchange administrative department shall, according to their respective functions and duties, provide relevant service guarantee for promoting the development of the cultural relics and artworks market, and carry out relevant supervision and administration.

Article 6

This Municipality shall establish the Shanghai International Cultural Relics and Artworks Trade Service Center (hereinafter referred to as the Service Center) in Pudong New Area to provide sites, facilities, appraisal and other services for the business operation of cultural relics auction and the trade in artworks.

The Service Center shall obtain the license of cultural relics auction according to law, accept the supervision and administration of the municipal administrative department of cultural relics, and bear the corresponding legal liability according to law.

The measures for the administration of the Service Center shall be formulated separately by the municipal administrative department of cultural relics.

Article 7

Auction enterprises with appropriate funds, personnel, technology and other conditions may carry out the business activities of cultural relics auction through the Service Center.

The Service Center shall implement list management of auction enterprises, and cooperate with relevant administrative departments to supervise and administrate them. The auction enterprises to be included in or removed from the list shall be submitted by the Service Center to the municipal administrative department of cultural relics for examination and approval. The auction enterprises included in the list shall carry out the business activities of cultural relics auction in their own names through the Service Center.

Auction enterprises that carry out the business activities of cultural relics auction through the Service Center shall not engage in the business activities of cultural relics purchase and sale. The Service Center shall not allow cultural relics shops to carry out the business activities of cultural relics auction through the Center.

The Service Center shall perform the following administrative responsibilities:

1.formulating relevant trading rules and management norms, clarifying the conditions, scope and requirements for the business operation of cultural relics auction and the trade in artworks, the rights and obligations of all parties, and the measures to deal with violations of relevant provisions;

2.cooperating with the relevant administrative departments to do a good job of supervision and administration, establishing an internal control and internal audit mechanism, and when discovering trade in cultural relics and artworks prohibited by the State or other illegal business operations, stopping them and reporting to the relevant administrative department immediately;

3. keeping confidential, according to the laws, rules, regulations and agreements, the personal information and business secrets learned in the course of providing service; and

4. other administrative responsibilities that shall be performed.

Article 8

The auction enterprise that carries out the business activities of cultural relics auction through the Service Center shall, before the auction of a cultural relic, report the auction target to the Service Center for its internal audit, and after the target passes the audit, the Service Center shall report all the auction targets to the municipal administrative department of cultural relics for examination and approval. The target shall not be concealed, omitted or replaced in the report, or avoid by other ways the cultural-relics auction target examination. Without the examination and approval of the municipal administrative department of cultural relics, no publicity, pre-exhibition or auction of cultural-relics auction targets may be conducted.

The materials submitted by the Service Center for examination and approval shall include the opinions on the collection and appraisal of the target that are signed by the Service Center’s cultural-relics auction professionals. The Service Center and the auction enterprise shall be responsible for the authenticity, accuracy and completeness of the materials submitted.

Article 9

After accepting the application for examination and approval of a cultural-relics auction target, the municipal administrative department of cultural relics shall, according to the relevant provisions of the State on examination and approval of cultural-relics auction targets, strictly organize and carry out examination of the actual objects, process the examination and approval document within 20 working days, and meanwhile submit it to the administrative department of cultural relics under the State Council for the record.

The following objects shall not be the auction targets of cultural relics:

1. objects that shall be handed over to the State according to law and are publicized in the name of unearthed cultural relics or cultural relics that have been lifted from underwater;

2. stolen, excavated and robbed, or smuggled cultural relics, or Chinese cultural relics clearly defined as those illegally looted in history;

3. cultural relics confiscated or recovered by the law enforcement departments of public security, customs, market regulation, etc., or by the people’s courts or the people’s procuratorates according to law, or cultural relics recovered by banks, smelters, paper mills or waste materials recovery units;

4. cultural relics collected and kept by state-owned cultural relics collection units, other state organs, military units, state-owned enterprises and public institutions, or cultural relics collected by non-state-owned museums;

5. precious cultural relics kept by state-owned cultural relics shops;

6. state-owned immovable cultural relics and their components;

7. objects that are suspected of harming the interests of the State or are likely to produce adverse social influence; and

8. other cultural relics that are prohibited from circulation as provided for by laws, rules or regulations.

Article 10

Within 30 days after the completion of the auction of the cultural relics submitted by the Service Center, the Service Center shall report the auction records to the municipal administrative department of cultural relics for the record. The municipal administrative department of cultural relics shall, according to relevant provisions, submit the records of the cultural relics auction to the administrative department of cultural relics under the State Council.

The Service Center and the auction enterprise shall be responsible for the authenticity, accuracy and completeness of the materials on file.

Article 11

For temporary entry of cultural relics into the Chinese mainland, declaration shall be made to the Customs, and such entry shall be reported to the cultural-relics entry/exit examination and approval institution for examination and registration. Unless approved by the Customs and the said institution, the cultural relics for temporary entry into the Chinese mainland shall not remain in the Chinese mainland for more than six months.

With the authorization of the administrative department of cultural relics under the State Council, if the cultural relics for temporary entry into the bonded area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone have already remained there for six months and need to stay for a longer time, the carrier shall, ten working days before the expiration of the prescribed time limit, make a written application to the Shanghai Office of the State Cultural-Relics Entry/Exit Review Administration for extension of the time limit for exit from the Chinese mainland. Each extension shall not exceed six months. Where the total lengths of the stay are accumulated to two years and a reapplication is made for extension of the time limit for exit from the Chinese mainland, the carrier shall, ten working days before the expiration of the time limit, go through the formalities of physical examination with the Shanghai Office of the State Cultural-Relics Entry/Exit Review Administration.

In the case of cultural relics for temporary entry into the Chinese mainland, if no application was made for the extension of time limit for exit from the Chinese mainland according to relevant provisions, their exit from the Chinese mainland shall be examined according to the cultural-relics exit examination standards and procedures.

Article 12

Enterprises within the area under special customs supervision may, according to the relevant provisions of the State and this Municipality, carry out bonded exhibition and trading activities of cultural relics and artworks outside the area under special customs supervision.

Qualified business operators of cultural relics and artworks are encouraged to carry out activities such as online exhibition, trading and customized services of cultural relics and artworks through new forms and models of e-commerce. For the online auction activities of cultural relics carried out according to law, the municipal administrative department of cultural relics shall simplify the process of auction targets examination and improve the examination efficiency by means of the “Government Online-Offline Shanghai” and the notification and commitment method.

Article 13

This Municipality shall strengthen the training of professional personnel in cultural relics appraisal and other such fields, and support the professional personnel of cultural relics business operators to be entitled to the professional title assessment of technical personnel in cultural relics and museums. The Social Cultural Relics Trade Association of this Municipality shall hold professional technical training in cultural relics appraisal regularly, and issue certificates of qualification to those who pass the examination.

When applying for a license for the establishment of a cultural relics shop or a license for cultural relics auction, persons who have obtained the certificates of qualification and have attained the corresponding professional and technical competence shall be regarded as qualified professional and technical personnel in cultural relics and museums.

The municipal administrative department of cultural relics shall separately formulate measures for the administration of the training, examination and punishment of professional and technical personnel in the appraisal of cultural relics.

Article 14

Pudong New Area People’s Government shall earmark a fund within the culture appropriation to promote the development of the cultural relics and artworks market.

Pudong New Area People’s Government shall implement the relevant support and guarantee policies and provide convenient services for the professional and technical personnel in cultural relics and artworks who meet the relevant conditions.

Pudong New Area shall take measures to encourage various types of financial institutions to provide special financial service programs for the trade of cultural relics and artworks.

Article 15

The municipal administrative department of cultural relics shall establish a credit supervision platform for the cultural relics market and connect it with the public credit information service platform of this Municipality. The municipal and Pudong New Area administrative departments of cultural relics shall determine the credit rating of cultural-relics business operators on the basis of their licensing and filing, the results of the daily supervision and inspection, the investigation and punishment of illegal acts, and the comprehensive evaluation of the enterprise public credit, and take the rating as the basis for implementing differentiated and classified supervision. For those with higher credit ratings, a corresponding incentive mechanism shall be established; for those with a lower credit rating, supervision and inspection shall be strengthened, and warnings and punishments shall be given according to law.

The municipal and Pudong New Area administrative departments of culture and tourism, and cultural relics shall conduct routine inspections, random inspections and special inspections, and jointly with the departments of commerce, market regulation, economy and informatization, public security, customs, and foreign exchange, establish a mechanism of joint supervision, enhance work collaboration and information sharing, and strengthen the on-processing and post-event supervision over the cultural relics and artworks market, so as to ensure the safety of cultural relics and the healthy, standardized and orderly development of the cultural relics and artworks market.

Article 16

Any of the following circumstances shall be dealt with by relevant competent departments according to law; if the case constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be investigated according to law:

1.trading cultural relics and artworks whose sale is prohibited by the State, or transferring, leasing or pledging to foreigners or foreign organizations cultural relics whose exit from the Chinese mainland is prohibited;

2.cultural relics shops engaging in business activities of cultural relics auction, or cultural relics auction enterprises engaging in the purchase and sale of cultural relics;

3.failing to conduct examination of auction targets of cultural relics or file the trading records of cultural relics according to the relevant provisions of the State; and

4.other acts in violation of the provisions of relevant laws, rules or regulations.

Article 17

Where the Service Center fails to perform the relevant management responsibilities as provided in Article 7 of these Provisions, or allows cultural relics shops to carry out business activities of cultural relics auction through the Center, the municipal administrative department of cultural relics shall order it to make corrections and may impose a fine of not less than 10,000 yuan but not more than 100,000 yuan thereon; if the circumstances are serious, the said department may impose a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan but not more than 500,000 yuan on the Center, order it to suspend business for rectification, or revoke its license for cultural relics auction.

Article 18

These Provisions shall be effective as of October 1, 2022.