Cypriot Designated List Expanded

In the Federal Register dated July 18, 2022, the Cypriot designated list was amended to add Byzantine, Medieval, Frankish, Lusignan, Venetian, and Ottoman con types that “circulated primarily” in Cyprus.  

The revised designated list (effective on July 14, 2022) now reads as follows:

. Coins of Cypriot Types.

Coins of Cypriot types made of gold,
silver, and bronze including but not
limited to:

a. Issues of the ancient kingdoms of
Amathus, Kition, Kourion, Idalion,
Lapethos, Marion, Paphos, Soli, and
Salamis dating from the end of the 6th
century B.C. to 332 B.C.

b. Issues of the Hellenistic period,
such as those of Paphos, Salamis, and
Kition from 332 B.C. to c. 30 B.C.

c. Provincial and local issues of the
Roman period from c. 30 B.C. to A.D.
235. Often these have a bust or head on
one side and the image of a temple (the
Temple of Aphrodite at Palaipaphos) or
statue (statue of Zeus Salaminios) on the
other.

d. Byzantine, Medieval Frankish,
Lusignan, Venetian, and Ottoman types
that circulated primarily in Cyprus,
ranging in date from A.D. 235 to 1770.
Coins were made in copper, bronze,
silver, and gold. Examples are generally
round, have writing, and show imagery
of animals, buildings, symbols, or royal
or imperial figures.

 See https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/07/18/2022-15398/extension-and-amendment-of-import-restrictions-on-archaeological-and-ethnological-material-from

The "circulated primarily" standard does not comport with the plain language of the Cultural Property Implementation Act , 19 USC Section 2601.  See Ancient Coin Collectors Guild v. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 801 F. Supp. 2d 383, 407 n. 25 (D. Md. 2011) (“Congress only authorized the imposition of import restrictions on objects that were ‘first discovered within, and [are] subject to the export control by the State Party.”). 

 Additionally, without being more specific, this “circulated primarily” phraseology also raises “fair notice” questions under 19 USC Section 2604.  That provision requires the designated list be “sufficiently specific and precise”  so that the import restrictions only apply to items covered by the agreement, and that fair notice is given to importers. 

 The other issue here is that at the April 26, 2022, CPAC meeting  to discuss the renewal, IAPN presented substantial evidence that even under this “circulated primarily” standard, all Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic gold (AV) coins of Cyprus should be delisted along with all silver (AR) coins of Alexander III (“the Great”), Philip III Arrchidaelus, and Demetrius I Poliorcetes.  See IAPN’s supplemental correspondence, dated Jan. 17, 2022, available at

https://www.regulations.gov/comment/DOS-2021-0037-0015

This raises the question whether the “circulated primarily” standard is just a bureaucratic justification for the State Department's unpopular imposition of import restrictions on coins rather than a real standard the bureaucracy can be expected to hold itself to when promulgating regulations.