Law, crime and regulation

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced the trade in ivory from hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal, killer whale and sperm whale will be protected under an extension to the Ivory Act in the UK.

Permits and licences for CITES will soon be moving to an online service.

In the latest of a series of court cases, two men have been found guilty of trying to sell rare Anglo-Saxon coins.

A Roman bust discovered in a US charity shop and bought for just $34.99 will be repatriated to Germany.

The art and antiques trade have been asked to look out for a stolen sculpture and jewellery taken from a home in Surrey.

A temporary export block has been placed on a portrait of cavalry officers in the British Indian Army by Philip de László, in the hope it can be purchased by a UK institution.

Police are warning antiques dealers to be vigilant following the theft of two silver items and a lacquered snuff box.

Sir Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of Mai (Omai) has been bought jointly by The National Portrait Gallery and the Getty Museum after long-running discussions.

An anti-slavery poem written in ancient Greek by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) has been temporarily barred from being exported from the UK.

The National Museum of the Royal Navy is launching a fundraising plan to buy a flag from polar explorer Captain Henry Kellett (1806-75).

Emporium Antiques Centre in Lewes suffered a break in and police are appealing for information.

A former member of the vetting committee at TEFAF Maastricht, which opens today, has criticised the fair for “vetting decisions being overruled or ignored”.