The Holocaust Act 2009 (c 16) is an Act

Act of Parliament

An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

 of the Parliament

Parliament

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...

 of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. Its purpose is to confer, on certain national institutions, a power that was already possessed by other museums, because this was felt to be inconsistent. It was introduced into Parliament as the Holocaust (Stolen Art) Restitution Bill. The Bill was amended to give it a different name.

Sections 1 to 3

These sections came into force on 13 January 2010.

Section 1 provides that the Act applies to:

• The Board of Trustees of the Armouries
• The British Library
  British Library
  The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
  
   Board
• The Trustees of the British Museum
  British Museum
  The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
  
  
• The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum
  Imperial War Museum
  Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...
  
  
• The Board of Trustees for the National Galleries of Scotland
  National Galleries of Scotland
  The National Galleries of Scotland are the five national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries. It is one of the country's National Collections.-List of national galleries:* The National Gallery of Scotland* The Royal Scottish Academy Building...
  
  
• The Board of Trustees of the National Gallery
  National gallery
  The National Gallery is an art gallery on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom.National Gallery may also refer to:*Armenia: National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan*Australia:**National Gallery of Australia, Canberra...
  
  
• The Trustees of the National Library of Scotland
  National Library of Scotland
  The National Library of Scotland is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. It is based in a collection of buildings in Edinburgh city centre. The headquarters is on George IV Bridge, between the Old Town and the university quarter...
  
  
• The Trustees of the National Maritime Museum
  National Maritime Museum
  The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...
  
  
• The Board of Trustees of the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside
• The Board of Trustees of the National Museums of Scotland
  National Museums of Scotland
  National Museums Scotland is the organization that runs several national museums of Scotland. It is one of the country's National Collections, and holds internationally important collections of natural sciences, decorative arts, world cultures, science and technology, and Scottish history and...
  
  
• The Board of Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery
  National Portrait Gallery
  National Portrait Gallery can refer to:*National Portrait Gallery in Canberra*Portrait Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario*National Portrait Gallery , with satellite galleries in Denbighshire, Derbyshire and Somerset...
  
  
• The Trustees of the Natural History Museum
  Natural History Museum
  The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
  
  
• The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
  Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
  The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens, is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. "The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" and the brand name "Kew" are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs...
  
  
• The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
  Science museum
  A science museum or a science centre is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of...
  
  
• The Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery
  Tate Gallery
  The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
  
  
• The Board of Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum
  Victoria and Albert Museum
  The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
  
  
• The Board of Trustees of the Wallace Collection
  Wallace Collection
  The Wallace Collection is a museum in London, with a world-famous range of fine and decorative arts from the 15th to the 19th centuries with large holdings of French 18th-century paintings, furniture, arms & armour, porcelain and Old Master paintings arranged into 25 galleries.It was established in...
  
  

Section 2 authorises those bodies to transfer objects from their collections if the Advisory Panel has recommended that transfer and the Secretary of State has approved that recommendation. (The bodies in question were previously prohibited by statute from doing this).

Section 3 defines the expression "Advisory Panel". The explanatory notes to the Act said that the Government intended to designate the Spoliation Advisory Panel as the Advisory Panel for the purpose of this Act.

Section 4 - Short title, extent, commencement and sunset

This section came into force on 12 November 2009.

Section 4(1) authorises the citation of this Act by a short title

Short title

The short title is the formal name by which a piece of primary legislation may by law be cited in the United Kingdom and other Westminster-influenced jurisdictions , as well as the United States. It contrasts with the long title which, while usually being more fully descriptive of the...

.

Section 4(3) confers a power on the Secretary of State to appoint the day on which sections 1 to 3 of the Act come into force. This power was fully exercised by the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009 (Commencement) Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/50 (C.8)).

Section 4(7) is a sunset clause. It provides that the Act will expire at the end of the period of ten years which began on the day it was passed.

External links

• The Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009, as amended from the National Archives.
• The Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009, as originally enacted from the National Archives.
• Explanatory notes to the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009.