Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1144

Contents

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 of 18 December 2008 on the export of cultural goods^note, and in particular Article 7 thereof,After consulting the Cultural Goods Committee,Whereas:

(1)Detailed arrangements are necessary to implement Regulation (EC) No 116/2009, which provides, inter alia, for the establishment of an export licensing system for certain categories of cultural goods listed in Annex I to that Regulation.

(2)Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 does not specify whether the export licences should be applied for, processed and issued on paper or electronically.

(3)Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1081/2012^note requires export licences to be drawn up and issued on a paper form. This goes against the current trend in the Union, where the majority of Member States administrations and authorities have digitalised or are in the process of digitalising their services to citizens, by issuing and using electronic certification. The development of varying electronic solutions for export licences in an increasing number of Member States, while other Member States still issue them on paper, could be detrimental to the uniform implementation of Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 across the Union.

(4)Setting up an electronic system to apply for, process and issue export licences would be in line with the objectives of the EU eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020^note, which seeks to increase the efficiency of public services by removing existing digital barriers, reducing administrative burden and improving the quality of interactions between national administrations. It would be also consistent with the Tallinn Declaration^note, which sets objectives for interaction between the public administrations and general public and businesses on the basis of the ‘digital-by-default’, ‘once-only’ and ‘interoperability by default’ principles.

(5)A paper-based system for issuing export licences only allows limited tracing of the use of an export licence after it has been issued and paper export licences are vulnerable to forgery. To address this vulnerability, and also to improve efficiency and administrative cooperation between the authorities competent to apply Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 in the Member States, the paper-based system for submitting, processing and issuing export licences should be replaced by an electronic one.

(6)Regulation (EU) 2019/880 of the European Parliament and of the Council^note provides for the establishment of a centralised electronic system for the import of cultural goods into the Union customs territory (‘ICG system’) for storing and exchanging information between the competent authorities and customs authorities of the Member States and for importers to fulfil certain formalities, such as applying for import licences or drawing up importer statements. Cultural goods located within the Union customs territory should be granted the same level of protection as that granted by the ICG system to the cultural heritage of third countries.

(7)Therefore, and to ensure that electronic export licences under Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 are used in an uniform manner throughout the Union, it is necessary to lay down a centralised electronic system which the Member States competent authorities should use for receiving and processing applications for export licences and issuing such licences, and to lay down arrangements for the functioning of that electronic system and the use of electronic export licences.

(8)Member States customs authorities should have access to that system to carry out controls of export licences at the external borders of the Union and to cooperate with the competent authorities, if necessary. To achieve this objective, the electronic system for export licences should be interconnected with the European Union Single Window Environment for Customs established by Regulation (EU) 2022/2399 of the European Parliament and of the Council^note.

(9)In order to eliminate unnecessary administrative burden, it is required to lay down provisions for open export licences for the temporary export of cultural goods by responsible persons or museums and similar institutions for use, study, conservation or exhibition in third countries.

(10)Member States that wish to take advantage of such facilitation should be able to do so in relation to their own cultural goods, persons and museums. Beyond certain minimum requirements for open licences set out in this Regulation, the conditions to be fulfilled could differ from Member State to Member State. The Member States should therefore be able to choose whether to issue open licences or not.

(11)Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1081/2012 should therefore be repealed and replaced by this Regulation.

(12)The application of these new provisions should be deferred in order to coincide with the time at which the electronic system for export licences becomes operational.

(13)The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council^note and delivered an opinion on 18 December 2025,

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