It attempts to strengthen the main weaknesses of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.

The UNIDROIT Convention seeks to fight the illicit trafficking of cultural property by modifying the buyer's behaviour, obliging him/her to check the legitimacy of their purchase.

Again, the burden of proof is on the possessor to demonstrate that he/she "neither knew nor ought reasonably to have known at the time of acquisition that the object had been illegally exported" (Art.

The UNIDROIT Convention establishes conditions for claims of restitution/return of stolen or illegally exported cultural objects respectively.

The Convention regulates the time period that an affected party may bring a claim for the restitution of stolen cultural property or the return of those illegally exported.

Cultural objects that form an integral part of an identified monument or archaeological site, or which belong to a public collection are not subject to time limitation other than a period of three years (Art.

Its provisions only apply to cultural property stolen or illegally exported after the Convention entered into force (Art.