Uzbekistan is a country famous for its rich cultural heritage. No surprise, therefore, that expats posted to this Central Asian republic often frequent the country's bazaars and antique shops to procure cultural souvenirs for their return home. Unfortunately, far too many of these foreign buyers are unaware of the heritage protection laws which complicate the export of items of cultural importance from Uzbekistan (such as carpets, paintings, religious artifacts…even CD's and DVD's). For this reason, it is not unusual for Customs officers to seize such articles when they lack the necessary Ministry of Culture export documentation. This is why it's important to contact a freight forwarder who is familiar with the procedures and regulations of exporting culturally sensitive items.

Move One Fine Art Shipping, a division of the global Move One Group, has been active in Uzbekistan since 2001. Our fine art shipping experts are fully briefed on all the rules and regulations pertaining to the export of cultural items from Uzbekistan. Our experience ensures that our clients obtain the necessary certificates from the Ministry of Culture within a short time frame, and with minimum hassle. Prior to export our team will identify and photograph your souvenirs for a preliminary examination and arrange for a Ministry of Culture representative to view the item for final approval before issuing the export certificate. Even your DVD collection will need to be checked one by one in order to ensure that there are no items deemed offensive or detrimental to the cultural or political integrity of Uzbekistan.

It is important to note that such certification not only applies to items bound for export. International assignees who enter Uzbekistan with antiques or items of cultural importance are also advised to obtain Ministry of Culture certificates for their temporary import as well. This will ease the process when it comes time to re-export the items during repatriation. If these certificates are not obtained, the export process will be far more costly and complicated. For example, if the item is more than 50 years old, it may not be granted exit at all, but rather kept on the territory of Uzbekistan where it could be declared an item of cultural significance  despite its provenance.

Items deemed of cultural importance include:

• Items, associated with historical events, society/state development, science and technology history, also related to the life of prominent people;
• Arms which have historical, cultural or scientific importance;
• Items of artistic value containing precious metals and stones;
• Items and their fragments that were obtained during archeological or geological digs;
• Hand paintings or drawings;
• Original sculptural works and art compositions;
• Religious artifacts;
• Ethnographic objects;
• Engravings, prints, lithographs and other kinds of graphic arts and their original printing forms;
• Applied art works (made of glass, ceramics, wood, metal, bone, textile, etc.);
• Composition parts and fragments of architectural, historical and art monuments;
• Ancient books and also publishing material of historical, scientific, art and literature interest (separately or collection);
• Rare manuscripts and documentary monuments, archives;
• items from philatelic, numismatic, etc. collections;
• coins, orders, medals, stamps, postcards (envelopes) and other items of collection;
• rare collections and samples of flora and fauna;
• items, which are of interest for such fields of science as mineralogy, paleontology, anatomy;
• household and scientific equipment and instruments (watches, barometers, scales, binoculars, photo and movie cameras, sewing machines, etc.)
• other movable items (including copies), which have historical, scientific, art and cultural importance.

Certain items can only leave Uzbekistan temporarily, these include:
-  items made over 50 years ago;
-  items registered by state on the list of protection of cultural heritage;
-  items permanently preserved in state and public museums, archival depositories, libraries and other depositories of Uzbekistan.

With our years of experience in the Uzbek market, Move One Fine Art Shipping is on hand to help international assignees navigate the bureaucracy inherent in shipping cultural items in and out of the territory of Uzbekistan. 

Prepared by:  David O'Connor,  AES Cargo/Move One Relocations