Photographs as “Cultural Property” under Italian and European Union Law: A Complex Picture

Abstract

Photography has only recently come to be considered, besides being a creative work protected under copyright law, also as a possible element of “cultural heritage”. Even in Italy, with its traditionally pervasive regulation of cultural property, while the issue was raised in the 1970s it only entered the legal framework on cultural heritage in the 1990s. During the same period, photographs began to be considered as “cultural goods” under the European legal framework, albeit with mixed attitudes. This article provides a summary of this legal evolution, including an analysis of possible effects of the 2017 reform of Italian cultural property export law on this specific area, and discussing the impact of current regulation on the photography market.