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About Export Licences

These guidance pages were last updated 25 January 2023

  • The Export Licensing Unit (ELU) has put in place a new procedure for issuing export licences (please see Section 2: Apply for an Export Licence for further details). 
     
  • Arts Council England has commissioned the development of a new digital system to support our export licensing functions - please see below for further details

Certain cultural goods that reach or exceed specific age and monetary value thresholds require an individual licence for export out of the UK – whether on a permanent or temporary basis.

The Export Licensing Unit issues these export licences on behalf of the Secretary of State.

The purpose of the export control system is to provide an opportunity for the UK to retain cultural goods judged to be of outstanding national importance that would otherwise be exported and to provide a guarantee of the legality of the export. The system is designed to strike a balance, as fairly as possible, between the various interests concerned in any application for an export licence.

Export Licencing digital business system update - June 2023

Arts Council England has commissioned a digital system to manage the application and processing of export licences, with funding from The Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). The new system will simplify the application process for users and improve the efficiency of issuing licences through an online web portal.

We have worked continuously on its development since 2020 and dedicated consistent resource to the project to ensure that the new system meets the needs of the UK art market and museums. If you’re interested in contributing to the project, like taking part in user testing, please contact us.

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Apply for an Export Licence

Temporary procedure

The ELU has put in place a new temporary procedure to issue export licences until the new business system is ready.

Please do not send applications to our office. ELU staff are working remotely and we can no longer accept paper applications. Instead, you’ll need to complete an application form digitally and email it to us. We can’t accept forms that have been printed, filled in by hand and then scanned back in.

Full details of how to apply using the new digital procedure are in our Notice to exporters on temporary procedure (scroll to the bottom of this webpage). Key steps are:

  • Download and save a copy of the blank application form to your own computer.
  • Open it with Adobe Acrobat reader (free to download here: https://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/) and edit a new form for each application.
  • Sign the form by clicking into the signature box and uploading an image of your signature. You’ll need to have an image of your signature in jpeg or png format already saved to your computer (either by photographing or scanning it).
  • Attach the form and any supporting documents to an email and send it to elu@artscouncil.org.uk 

If you experience any difficulties with the application process please contact our customer services team. Thank you in advance for your patience.

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Exports from Northern Ireland

The government has issued guidance regarding exporting objects of cultural interest from 1 January 2021, including the rules for exports directly from Northern Ireland to non-EU countries. Please also refer to Appendix I of the Guidance for Exporters Issue 1 2021.

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Contact us

Chat with us online: Between 9am-4pm, you can click the chat icon at the bottom right of the page to speak directly to one of our team. 

Call us: 0161 934 4317 (10am-4pm)

Email us: You can email us using this contact formIt can take up to five working days for us to respond to email correspondence. If the issue takes longer than this to resolve, we’ll get in touch to explain why there’s a delay and when you can expect a full response.

Making a complaint: You can find our complaint and objections procedure on this web page

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