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Key decisions

  • Palmanova Pty Ltd v Commonwealth of Australia [2025] HCA 35
  • CD v The Commonwealth of Australia; CD v Director of Public Prosecutions (SA) [2025] HCA 37

STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION

UNESCO – protection of cultural heritage

In Palmanova Pty Ltd v Commonwealth of Australia [2025] HCA 35 (3 September 2025), the High Court (Gageler CJ and Gordon, Edelman, Jagot and Beech‑Jones JJ) dismissed with costs an appeal from the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia.

Section 14(1) of the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986 (Cth) (‘Act’) states that an object is liable to forfeiture where:

  1. a protected object of a foreign country has been exported from that country;
  2. the export was prohibited by a law of that country relating to cultural property; and
  3. the object is imported.

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