Comment on DOS-2026-0628-0001
Tom MannOpposeIndividual
Summary: Tom, an individual commenter, opposes the proposed MOUs with Romania, Albania, and Nigeria. He argues that the agreements are too broad, ineffective, and infringe on the rights of American citizens, while expressing concerns about the corruption of the involved governments.
I write to state my opposition to the new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Romania and renewal of the MOUs with Albania and Nigeria. As written, they are extremely broad and highly ineffective at achieving the important aims of the Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA). No action should be taken until they can be carefully reviewed and revised to successfully meet the objectives of the CPIA, while also protecting the legitimate rights of American citizens, upon which they currently infringe considerably.
My primary concern is that both nations were part of both the ancient Greek realm (Albania, after all, is adjacent to modern-day Greece) and the Roman empire. Coins from both these eras circulated widely throughout the region in ancient times, and have been bought, sold, traded and collected throughout Europe for many centuries. The location of any one coin in a specific modern nation is no indication of its origin or where it may have been found.
Unfortunately the country governments we are discussing here are known to be somewhat corrupt. Coins that they claim to be their national heritage (the vast majority are probably not) will disappear within their bureaucracies, never to be seen again. These coin treasures deserve much better than that.
Tom