Closed petition Amend British Museum Act 1963 allow for return of artefacts on permanent basis

Closed on 26 October 2021

We want the Government to amend Act to allow the Trustees of the British Museum to approve restitution requests for the return of artefacts on a permanent basis. Currently, British Museum Act 1963 prohibits restitution and only allows for disposal of collection items in limited circumstances.

Museums are facing calls to return artefacts to their places of origin. Section 3 of the British Museum Act holds that the Trustees of the British Museum shall not dispose of objects vested in them except for exceptional circumstances - "Trustees do not have the power to sell, exchange, give away or dispose of any object vested in them and comprised in the Collection unless object is a duplicate of another object held in the Collection, object is unfit or useless for the purposes of the Museum".