To cite this page: Tan, Noel Hidalgo (2020, Updated 4 September 2022) Archaeology Laws and Cultural Heritage Legislation. Southeast Asian Archaeology. Available at: https://www.southeastasianarchaeology.com/legislation/
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This resource page is a collection of archaeology laws in Southeast Asia and legislation related to cultural heritage.Most countries in the region has some sort of law regulating the practice of archaeology, excavations and the export of artefacts, although the enforcement and oversight vary. This page draws from a number of useful databases and guides to legislation on the internet. Please use with caution and appopriate judgement: as far as possible, I’ve tried to link to the actual text from the official law repository of the country, but please note that some documents are not in English, and no official English translation may be available. Documents are listed by country and year.
Related Books
These are books relevant to archaeology and cultural heritage law in Southeast Asia. Some of these links are affiliate links and I may receive a commission if you click on them and make a purchase. For other sources of reliable academic information, you should also check out the books page for latest releases and the occassional free book, as well as the journals page for the latest scientific research.
Last update on 2023-03-22 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Brunei
- (2002, revised) Antiquities and Treasure Trove Act [Source: Attorney General’s Chambers, Brunei]
- (1983, revised) Brunei National Archives [Source: Attorney General’s Chambers, Brunei]
Cambodia
- Law on the Establishment of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts | ច្បាប់ស្តីពី ការបង្កើតក្រសួងវប្បធម៌និងវិចិត្រសិល្បៈ [Source: Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts Cambodia]
- Law on the Adoption of the Convention on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage | ច្បាប់ស្តីពី ការអនុម័តយល់ព្រមលើអនុសញ្ញា ស្តីពីការការពារបេតិកភណ្ឌវប្បធម៌អរូបី [Source: Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts Cambodia]
- Law on the Adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of Illegal Cultural Property | ច្បាប់ស្តីពី ការអនុម័តយល់ព្រមលើអនុសញ្ញាអ៊ុយនីឌ្រ័រស្តីពីសម្បត្តិវប្បធម៌ ដែលត្រូវគេលួច ឬត្រូវគេធ្វើនីហរណកម្មខុសច្បាប់ [Source: Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts Cambodia]
- Law on the Adoption of the Kingdom of Cambodia as a Party to the United Nations Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage | ច្បាប់ស្តីពី ការអនុម័តយល់ព្រមឲ្យព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជាចូលជាភាគី នៃអនុសញ្ញាអង្គការសហប្រជាតិ ស្តីពីកិច្ចការពារបេតិកភណ្ឌវប្បធម៌ក្រោមទឹក [Source: Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts Cambodia]
- Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage | ច្បាប់ស្តីពី កិច្ចការពារបេតិកភណ្ឌវប្បធម៌ [Source: Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts Cambodia]
- (2008) Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia concerning the imposition of import restrictions on archaeological material from Cambodia from the Bronze Age through the Khmer Era [Source: Unesco]
- (2002, revised 2012) Angkor Charter: Guidelines for Safeguarding the World Heritage Site of Angkor [Source: Unesco]
- (2002) Sub-decree N.98 concerning the execution of the protection of cultural heritage [Source: Unesco]
- (2000) Agreement between the Government of Cambodia and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand to combat against illicit trafficking and cross-border smuggling of movable cultural property and to restitute it to the country of origin [Source: Unesco]
- (1999) Royal Decree on the Establishment of the Apsara Authority [Unofficial Translation, Source: Unesco]
- (1996) Royal Decree 0196/26 concerning the Law on the protection of Cultural Heritage [Source: Unesco]
- (1995) Royal Decree establishing the Supreme Council on National Culture [Source: Unesco]
- (1994) Royal Decree on Protected Areas in the Siem Reap/Angkor Region [Unofficial Translation, Source: Unesco]
- (1993) Decision on the Protection of Cultural Heritage [Source: Unesco]
- (1993) Decision on the National Heritage protection authority of Cambodia [Source: Unesco]
- (1992) Resolution on the Protection of Heritage [Source: Unesco]
- (1968) Law organizing the repression of theft, concealment and destruction of objects forming part of the national artistic heritage [Source: Unesco]
- (1967) Agreement between the Royal Government of Cambodia and the Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient respecting the renewal of the 1956 bilateral agreements of the Angkor conservancy and on terms and conditions for archaeological excavations [Source: Unesco]
- (1965) Abstract and delimination of the law respecting the classification, conservation and protection of historical monuments [Source: Unesco]
- (1956) Bilateral agreement between the Royal Government of Cambodia and the Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient respecting terms and conditions for archaeological excavations on Cambodian soil [Source: Unesco]
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Indonesia
- (2017) Laws of the Republic of Indonesia concerning Cultural Devlopment | Undang Undang Reuplbik Indonesia Tentang Pemajuan Kebudayaan [Source: Mnistry of Education and Culture, Indonesia]
- (2010) Laws of the Republic of Indonesia concerning Cultural Heritage | Undang Undang Reuplbik Indonesia Tentang Cagar Budaya [Source: Mnistry of Education and Culture, Indonesia]
- (2009) Ministerial Regulation of No. 48 of 2009 on Guidelines for Management of Underwater Heritage Culture and Tourism [Source: Unesco]
- (2009) Presidential Decree Nr. 12 of 2009, replacing Decree N. 19 of 2007 concerning the Appointment of the National Committee and the Utilization of Valuable Cargo Raised from Sunken Ships [Source: Unesco]
- (2003) Compliation of law and regulation of the Republic of Indonesia concerning items of cultural property [Source: Unesco]
- (1992) Act No. 5 of 1992 on Heritage Objects [Source: Unesco]
- (1992) Presidential Decree No. 25 of 1992 on Profit Sharing between the Indonesian Government and Salvage Companies with Salved Valuable Objects Retrieved from Shipwrecks [Source: Unesco, note: no longer in force after Decree 12 of 2009]
- (1989) Presidential Decree No. 43 of 1989 on the National Committee and Utilization of Valuable Cargo from Sunken Ships [Source: Unesco]
Laos
- (2014, Amended) National Heritage Law [Source: Lao Official Gazette]
- (2005) Decree of President on promulgation of the Law on National Heritage [Source: Unesco]
- (1997) Decree on the conservation of the national cultural, historical and natural heritage [Source: Unesco]
Malaysia
- (2005) National Heritage Act [Source: Attorney General’s Chambers, Malaysia]
- (1993) Sarawak Cultural Heritage Ordinance [Source: Sarawak LawNet]
- (1976) Antiquities Act (repealed by 2005 National Heritage Act) [Source: Attorney General’s Chambers, Malaysia]
- (1957) Treasure Trove Act (repealed by 2005 National Heritage Act) [Source: Attorney General’s Chambers, Malaysia]
Myanmar
- (2019) Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 6/2019 – The protection and preservation of cultural heritage regions law | ယဉ်က ျေးအကမွေအနှစ်ကေသမ ျေး ွေယ်ထိန်ျေးသိမ်ျေးက ျေးဥပကေ(၂၀၁၉ခုနှစ်၊ပပည်ကထ င်စုလွှတ်ကတ ်ဥပကေအမှတ်၆။)၁၃၈၀ပပည ်နှစ်၊တပိုတွေွဲလပပည်က်၉ ်)(၂၀၁၉ခုနှစ်၊ကေကေ ်ဝါ ီလ၊၂၈ ်) [Source: Myanmar Law Library]
- (2019) Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 40/2019 – National Records and Archives Law | အမျိုဵသာဵမှတ်တမ်ဵနှငဴ်ေမာ်ကွန်ဵဥပေဒ [Source: Myanmar Law Library]
- (2018) Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 15/2018 – Myanmar History Association [Source: Myanmar Law Library]
- (2015) Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 43/2015 – Law Protecting Ancient Objects [Source: Myanmar Law Library]
- (2015) Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 51/2015 – Law on the Preservation and Protection of Ancient Buildings [Source: Myanmar Law Library]
- (2011) Mynanmar Regulation of The Protection and Preservation of the Cultural Heritage Regions [Source: Unesco]
- (2009) Law amending the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage Regions Law [Source: Myanmar Law Library]
- (1998) The Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage Regions Law [Source: Myanmar Law Library]
- (1957) The Antiquities Act [Source: Unesco]
- (1878) Indian Treasure Trove Act [Source: Myanmar Law Library]
- (1707) King Wagaru’s Dhammasattham (translated by E Forchhammer) [Source: Myanmar Law Library]
- Royal Orders of Burma 1598-1648 translated by Than Tun (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9) [Source: Myanmar Law Library]
Philippines
- (2019) Republic Act No. 11333: AN ACT STRENGTHENING THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE PHILIPPINES, REPEALING FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8492, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “NATIONAL MUSEUM ACT OF 1998”, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR [Source: Official Gazette of the Philippines]
- (1998) Republic Act No. 8492: National Museum Act of 1998 [Source: Unesco]
- (1991) Proclamation No. 798: DECLARING THE MONTH OF OCTOBER OF EVERY YEAR AS MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES MONTH Source: Official Gazette of the Philippines]
- (1987) Proclamation no. 86: DECLARING THE BALANGAYS IN THE VICINITIES OF BUTUAN CITY, NATIONAL CULTURAL TREASURES; AND THE SITES WHERE THESE BALANGAYS ARE FOUND, ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTIONS 3 (c) AND 3 (j), RESPECTIVELY, OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 4846, AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “CULTURAL PROPERTIES PRESERVATION AND PROTECTION ACT” [Source: Official Gazette of the Philippines]
- (1984) Letter of Instruction 1397: ESTABLISHING GUIDELINES FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM Source: Official Gazette of the Philippines]
- (1983) Executive Order 911: CREATING A COMMITTEE TO TAKE CHARGE OF THE SOLICITATION OF WORLD WAR II WAR RELICS, MEMENTOS AND OTHER MEMORABILIA FROM ALL SOURCES FOR THE PURPOSE OF SENDING THE SAME OR REPLICAS THEREOF TO BE DISPLAYED PERMANENTLY AT THE MUSEUM OF THE PRESIDIO OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Source: Official Gazette of the Philippines]
- (1977) Presidential Decree No. 1109: DECLARING THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AREAS IN CAGAYAN VALLEY AND KALINGA-APAYAO ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESERVATION Source: Official Gazette of the Philippines]
Singapore
- (2009) Preservation of Monuments Act [Source: Singapore Statues Online]
- (1993) National Heritage Board Act [Source: Singapore Statues Online]
Thailand
- (2000) Agreement between the Government of Cambodia and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand to combat against illicit trafficking and cross-border smuggling of movable cultural property and to restitute it to the country of origin [Source: Unesco]
- (1961) Regulations issued under the Act on ancient monuments, antiques, objects of art and national museums [Source: Unesco]
Timor Leste
- (2011) Governmental Resolution N.25/2011 related to the protection of cultural heritage [Source: Unesco]
- (2009) National Cultural Policy [Source: Unesco]
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Vietnam
- (2002) Decree 92/2002 on detailed regulations to implement some articles of the law on cultural heritage [Source: Unesco]
- (2001) Law on cultural heritage [Source: Unesco]
- (1995) UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects [Source: Unesco]
International Agreements and Charters
- (2013) The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance, The Burra Charter, 2013 (Burra Charter) [Source: ICOMOS Open Archive]
- (2001) Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage [Source: Unesco Digital Library]
- (1970) Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property [Source: Unesco]
- (1983) Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act [Source: US Departmend of State Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs]
Legislation Repositories
- Attorney General’s Chambers, Brunei
- Attorney General’s Chambers, Malaysia
- Lao Official Gazette
- Myanmar Law Information System
- Official Gazette of the Philippines
- Oxford Library Guide to Cultural Heritage Law
- Peratuan Indonesia
- Singapore Statues Online
- UNESCO Database of National Cultural Heritage Laws
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News about Archaeology and Culture Legislation
News reports and information about archaeology and cultural heritage legislation in Southeast Asia. The news reports indexed below usually link to external sites that were active at the time of posting; sometimes websites may be temporarily down or may have reorganised their underlying architecture or have even closed down – in these cases the links may not be available. Most of the news articles archived are in English, although when I am made aware of stories in this and other languages I try to index them.
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