Verzamelverbod VS op overheidsgebied
Geplaatst: 31 mar 2009, 21:58
Ter info voor verzamelaars die in de VS willen gaan verzamelen.
(per 30 maart 2009 van kracht)
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Yesterday Obama signed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. This statute makes it illegal to collect/dig any kind of fossils (animals and plants) on any federal land in the United States without a permit. In general, permits will only be granted to professionals associated with universities and museums.
Under SEC. 6304 the statute does permit the controlling entity (Secretary of Interior or Secretary of Agriculture) to make an exception and allow casual collecting without a permit on some Federal land. The term `casual collecting' means the collecting of a reasonable amount of common invertebrate and plant paleontological resources for non-commercial personal use, either by surface collection or the use of non-powered hand tools resulting in only negligible disturbance to the Earth's surface and other resources. But given the other draconian provisions of this statute, you had better get an exception in writing for a specific area before you attempt any fossil collecting.
Under SEC. 6306. PROHIBITED ACTS (a) it lists:
(1) excavate, remove, damage, or otherwise alter or deface or attempt to excavate, remove, damage, or otherwise alter or deface any paleontological resources located on Federal land unless such activity is conducted in accordance with this subtitle;
(2) exchange, transport, export, receive, or offer to exchange, transport, export, or receive any paleontological resource if the person knew or should have known such resource to have been excavated or removed from Federal land in violation of any provisions, rule, regulation, law, ordinance, or permit in effect under Federal law, including this subtitle; or
(3) sell or purchase or offer to sell or purchase any paleontological resource if the person knew or should have known such resource to have been excavated, removed, sold, purchased, exchanged, transported, or received from Federal land.
(b) False Labeling Offenses- A person may not make or submit any false record, account, or label for, or any false identification of, any paleontological resource excavated or removed from Federal land.
(e) General Exception- Nothing in subsection (a) shall apply to any person with respect to any paleontological resource which was in the lawful possession of such person prior to the date of enactment of this Act.
Thus, this statute makes it illegal to exchange, transport, export, receive, or offer to exchange, transport, export, or receive any fossil collected on federal land after this act was passed (effective Mar.30, 2009).
The law also makes it illegal to change the labels on a fossil to disguise the location where it came from.
There is a general exception to this statue granted for any fossil in a person's possession at the time this statute went into effect. However, because of the way this statute is written, it would be legal for a person to sell a fossil collected on federal land that was in his possession when this statute was passed, but the person receiving it would apparently be breaking the law. It appears that the law was intentionally written that way to destroy the commercial fossil trade. So now all your fossils that were collected on federal land legally have now become worthless.
However, it does appear that trading fossils collected before this statute went into effect is still legal, if you can prove the fossil was collected legally.
This law effectively treats fossil collecting like drug dealing. The penalties for breaking the law are similar.
(c) Penalties- A person who knowingly violates or counsels, procures, solicits, or employs another person to violate subsection (a) or (b) shall, upon conviction, be fined in accordance with title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
Under section 6308. REWARDS AND FORFEITURE
(b) Forfeiture- All paleontological resources with respect to which a violation under section 6306 or 6307 occurred and which are in the possession of any person, and all vehicles and equipment of any person that were used in connection with the violation, shall be subject to civil forfeiture, or upon conviction, to criminal forfeiture.
In other words if you are caught fossil collecting they can confiscate your car and tools in addition to the fossils. In theory, if you are caught buying any fossil collected on federal land on EBAY (even if it was collected legally before this bill was passed) they could confiscate your computer and maybe even your house. The big problem with civil forfeiture is that it is about as hard for the feds to do as getting a search warrant. Then you are stuck trying to prove you did not break the law in order to get it back.
To protect yourself it is probably a good idea to make a permanent record of the fossils currently in your possession. The best thing would be a CD-ROM with photos of all your fossils. But that takes time. Yesterday I made a CD-ROM with a file listing all the fossils in my collection, and had a person not in my family date and sign the CD-ROM.
It appears that most of the trilobite collecting areas in the western US are on federal land. Private and state land is exempt. Eastern and mid-Western US trilobites are and were mostly found on private property and so should be exempt. The Black Cat Mountain trilobites in Oklahoma are on private land and should be exempt. And foreign trilobites are exempt. However, many countries have passed laws prohibiting the export of fossils.
(per 30 maart 2009 van kracht)
<:{{{{{>
Yesterday Obama signed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. This statute makes it illegal to collect/dig any kind of fossils (animals and plants) on any federal land in the United States without a permit. In general, permits will only be granted to professionals associated with universities and museums.
Under SEC. 6304 the statute does permit the controlling entity (Secretary of Interior or Secretary of Agriculture) to make an exception and allow casual collecting without a permit on some Federal land. The term `casual collecting' means the collecting of a reasonable amount of common invertebrate and plant paleontological resources for non-commercial personal use, either by surface collection or the use of non-powered hand tools resulting in only negligible disturbance to the Earth's surface and other resources. But given the other draconian provisions of this statute, you had better get an exception in writing for a specific area before you attempt any fossil collecting.
Under SEC. 6306. PROHIBITED ACTS (a) it lists:
(1) excavate, remove, damage, or otherwise alter or deface or attempt to excavate, remove, damage, or otherwise alter or deface any paleontological resources located on Federal land unless such activity is conducted in accordance with this subtitle;
(2) exchange, transport, export, receive, or offer to exchange, transport, export, or receive any paleontological resource if the person knew or should have known such resource to have been excavated or removed from Federal land in violation of any provisions, rule, regulation, law, ordinance, or permit in effect under Federal law, including this subtitle; or
(3) sell or purchase or offer to sell or purchase any paleontological resource if the person knew or should have known such resource to have been excavated, removed, sold, purchased, exchanged, transported, or received from Federal land.
(b) False Labeling Offenses- A person may not make or submit any false record, account, or label for, or any false identification of, any paleontological resource excavated or removed from Federal land.
(e) General Exception- Nothing in subsection (a) shall apply to any person with respect to any paleontological resource which was in the lawful possession of such person prior to the date of enactment of this Act.
Thus, this statute makes it illegal to exchange, transport, export, receive, or offer to exchange, transport, export, or receive any fossil collected on federal land after this act was passed (effective Mar.30, 2009).
The law also makes it illegal to change the labels on a fossil to disguise the location where it came from.
There is a general exception to this statue granted for any fossil in a person's possession at the time this statute went into effect. However, because of the way this statute is written, it would be legal for a person to sell a fossil collected on federal land that was in his possession when this statute was passed, but the person receiving it would apparently be breaking the law. It appears that the law was intentionally written that way to destroy the commercial fossil trade. So now all your fossils that were collected on federal land legally have now become worthless.
However, it does appear that trading fossils collected before this statute went into effect is still legal, if you can prove the fossil was collected legally.
This law effectively treats fossil collecting like drug dealing. The penalties for breaking the law are similar.
(c) Penalties- A person who knowingly violates or counsels, procures, solicits, or employs another person to violate subsection (a) or (b) shall, upon conviction, be fined in accordance with title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
Under section 6308. REWARDS AND FORFEITURE
(b) Forfeiture- All paleontological resources with respect to which a violation under section 6306 or 6307 occurred and which are in the possession of any person, and all vehicles and equipment of any person that were used in connection with the violation, shall be subject to civil forfeiture, or upon conviction, to criminal forfeiture.
In other words if you are caught fossil collecting they can confiscate your car and tools in addition to the fossils. In theory, if you are caught buying any fossil collected on federal land on EBAY (even if it was collected legally before this bill was passed) they could confiscate your computer and maybe even your house. The big problem with civil forfeiture is that it is about as hard for the feds to do as getting a search warrant. Then you are stuck trying to prove you did not break the law in order to get it back.
To protect yourself it is probably a good idea to make a permanent record of the fossils currently in your possession. The best thing would be a CD-ROM with photos of all your fossils. But that takes time. Yesterday I made a CD-ROM with a file listing all the fossils in my collection, and had a person not in my family date and sign the CD-ROM.
It appears that most of the trilobite collecting areas in the western US are on federal land. Private and state land is exempt. Eastern and mid-Western US trilobites are and were mostly found on private property and so should be exempt. The Black Cat Mountain trilobites in Oklahoma are on private land and should be exempt. And foreign trilobites are exempt. However, many countries have passed laws prohibiting the export of fossils.