Administrative Proceedings in the field of Immovable Cultural Heritage

Inspection, identification, registration and protection of cultural-historical movable and Immovable valuable works are among the legal duties undertaken by Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Organization. With respect to the fact that proceeding to register an artwork creates a legal status and leaves judicial effects, so it is an administrative decision and falls within the examples of article 10 of High Administrative Court’s Procedure Act. Guardian Council’s opinion stating the non-legitimacy of the National Heritage Protection Act 1309 and its subsequent amendments and additions, lack of legal reasons and disobedience of laws by the administrative authority are among the things to which the Court’s judges refer to annul the administrative decisions. So in the practice of this court, private ownership and consequently private benefit is preferred over public interests (conservation and durability of cultural heritage and its transfer to the future). Conservation of cultural heritage necessitates that the legislator, administrative and judicial authority arrange to balance between private ownership and public interests, indeed between the principles of No Harm (La Zarar) and the legal power of the owner to exercise control over property (Taslit) in a way that none is affected and incurred a loss by the other.