A Bill to amend the British Museum Act 1963 to permit the transfer of artefacts in the British Museum; to confer powers on the Secretary of State to require the transfer of artefacts in specified circumstances; and for connected purposes.
At present the British Museum is prevented by statute from disposing of objects in its collections except in very limited circumstances. The Bill’s purpose is to amend the British Museum Act 1963 to enable the British Museum to transfer to another institution, for public exhibition, any object from its collections, in certain circumstances, where public access is guaranteed. Those circumstances are:where the object would be more widely accessible to visitors than in the British Museumwhere it would be more appropriately displayed in the recipient institution than in the British Museum by reason of its historic linkswhere the object came to form part of the collections of the British Museum in circumstances which make its retention in the collections undesirable or inappropriateThe Bill confers a general power but its sponsor envisages only one situation in which it might realistically apply: to repatriate the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.
House of Commons
12 April 2010
This Bill would let the British Museum transfer artefacts to other public museums for public display in certain situations, and would give the Secretary of State power to require such transfers. It creates a general transfer power, though the sponsor expects it would mainly be used to repatriate items to their countries of origin, notably the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.
Currently at the 2nd Reading in the House of Commons. Originating in the Commons.
Generated 21 February 2026
This Bill was presented to Parliament on 6 January 2010 This is known as First Reading and there was no debate on the Bill at this stage.
The 2009-10 session of parliament has prorogued and this Bill will make no further progress.
No recorded votes for this bill yet.
