The entry of patrimonial/artistic goods is protected by law. On the other hand, such goods may normally be sourced from a robbery in the country of origin from an art museum or private collection. So, they are most of the times entered into the country concealed among other goods/baggage with the purpose of being privately commercialized in the country or in an international auction.

In the case of national objects to be exported from Chile, customs enforcement teams work on the basis of risk management, particularly focused on this kind of merchandise. Consequently, where Customs inspectors detect any of such objects to be exported or taken out of the country under a false declaration, the goods are stopped and a communication is immediately sent to the Council of National Monuments, in order to determine whether the goods being falsely declared are covered by the concept of national monument and that, therefore, are not allowed to be taken out of the country without permission.

• Customs Ordinance
• Organic Law of the National Customs Service
• Law 17288 for National Monuments (ammended by Law 18745)
• Law 16441 which provides for rules and regulations about the exit of historical, artistic, anthropological, archeological goods as well other goods of national interest
• International agreements on the protection to historical and cultural patrimony

In general terms, these rules indicate that:

Every site or piece either archaeological or paleontologic existing over or under land of national territory is considered to be an archaeological monument and so it is a property of the State.

In the case of intending to perform an archaeological excavation, an archaeologist is required to submitt an investigation project to the Council of National Monuments in order to obtain a written authorization. If archaeological pieces are found, the finding shall be reported to Carabineros de Chile (uniformed police), the Province Gobernor or the Council of National Monuments.

The destruction or damage of national monuments is punished with penalties involving personal restraint.

Customs maintains a permanent contact with Policía de Investigaciones, INTERPOL and the Council of National Monuments in order to co-ordinate enforcement efforts such as information exchange about wanted or robbed pieces worldwide. The final aim of such efforts is to hinder the possible entry of such goods into the country.

Furthermore, with the use of the RILO Network, Chile Customs receives alerts by member countries on pieces of cultural patrimony which have been robbed and are under the WANTED section of INTERPOL.

During 2003 and 2004, over 450 paleontologic-origin objects, some of them over 5 million years old such as amonites and megalodon teeth were seized.

Also, some Peruvian pieces of art intended to be illicitally entered into the country have been seized by Customs. They were returned to Peruvian Embassy, according to the mutual convention on protection and return of cultural goods subscribed by Chile and Perú.

Besides, Customs inspectors were trained during 2004 in cultural patrimony related matters in order to obtain a different view on the new techniques, thus being able to generate de appropriate conditions for the fight against this kind of illicit traffic and the looting of anthropological, archaeological and historical goods which are covered by national patrimony.

In 2004, Chile Customs Service was awarded the Premio Conservación de Monumentos Nacionales (National Monuments Preservation Award) for the efforts on combatting illicit traffic of cultural patrimony, its outstanding work on the area and the continuous and fluent communication with the Council of National Monuments, Policía de Investigaciones and INTERPOL.

Patrimonial goods are those which have a special meaning for society because they are a testimony of history.

Patrimonial goods are a reference of social identity and cohesion, providing society with a sense of belonging at local, regional and international level. Any loss in this sense is both irreversible and non-retrievable.