from The New York Times -
A New Concept in Handling Art
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Just as Switzerland - the last bastion for the trafficking of "antiques" without provenance - is tightening their act to ensure that illegally excavated and exported antiquities are more closely monitored, Singapore goes in and fill that gap by offering an even more lax set of regulations - effectively encouraging the next generation of shady deals with accompanying questionable ethics.

"In 2005, Switzerland enacted strict federal legislation, based on a 1970 Unesco international convention against art and antiquities trafficking. The legislation, prompted by scandals and foreign criminal cases involving stolen works trafficked through Switzerland, regulated Swiss free ports handling cultural goods and set criminal penalties for violators. But Singapore opted out of the Unesco Convention in 1985 and chose not to sign a 1995 international agreement on the repatriation of stolen or illegally exported cultural goods."

Ironically (and disturbingly), Singapore's foremost government-funded agencies for art, culture and heritage (the National Heritage Board and National Arts Council) are in cahoots in implementing the scheme by each taking "a 5 percent stake" in the venture. What a shame ...
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