Archaeologist David Gill has issued another misleading press release about the ACCG's test case related to import restrictions on "coins of Cypriot type." Looting Matters: Do Coin Collectors Care About the Archaeology of Cyprus? -- SWANSEA, Wales, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire/ --
In so doing, Gill confuses a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case with a separate action to test import restrictions. ACCG imported coins for purposes of this test case in April 2009 after documents released under FOIA suggested that State Department officials ignored the findings of an expert advisory committee recommending AGAINST import restrictions on coins and then mislead Congress and the public about the decision. Additional FOIA information has revealed that the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI) was involved in behind-the-scenes lobbying on behalf of the Cypriot Department of Antiquities, the Cypriot government body that issues excavation permits that allow CAARI affiliated archaeologists to excavate on the Island. ACCG's test case asks the Court to determine whether these and other related procedural irregularities require the regulations to be thrown-out. Certification requirements that import restrictions impose now make it very difficult for American collectors to import Cypriot coins from abroad. In the meantime, collectors within the EU-- including within Cyprus itself--face no similar restrictions.
For the ACCG's own press release on the issue, see: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ancient-coin-collectors-seek-judicial-review-of-controversial-decisions-to-bar-coin-imports-84491507.html
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