[NHCOLL-L:2905] Brazilian paleontology export laws?

[Kara Hurst]

 Please forgive the cross-posting.

Dear Colleagues,

We have been presented with a potential gift to our Paleontology division of
"four Brazilian fossil fish in concretions".  The Paleo CM informs me that
the donors were traveling in Brazil and that these materials are quite
common and that they were purchased potentially from a shop.  Of course
there is no receipt of purchase.  Our CMP covers Museum purchases by
stating: 

"Ownership commences when the Museum has rendered payment for the object or
specimen and received a receipt of purchase with the object or specimen. A
Bill of Sale shall be obtained from the vendor for each purchase, if
possible. If a Bill of Sale cannot be obtained, a written and signed
statement of the circumstances of purchase by the appropriate curator shall
be substituted and retained with the accession documentation."

Since a receipt is not possible, I will be contacting the potential donor
for a written and signed statement of the circumstances which will then
accompany the Deed of Gift.  However, before I do that I wanted to become
more familiar with any Brazilian export or US import paleontology laws.  I
am more familiar with cultural property laws and my cursory understanding of
the laws in general is that paleontology legal protection is lagging far
behind cultural property issues.  

If you are familiar with Brazilian laws or US paleontology import laws, you
can reply to the listserv or use my email below.

Thank you,
Kara

Kara J. Hurst, M.A.
Registrar
Utah Museum of Natural History
University of Utah
1390 E. Presidents Circle
Salt Lake City, UT  84112-0050

801-585-7484 direct
801-585-3684 fax

khurst at umnh.utah.edu
www.umnh.utah.edu