Law, crime and regulation

The ninth annual LAPADA Conference opened yesterday with a sobering reminder to dealers that they could fall victim to cybercrime.

British banks have warned UK dealers and auctioneers trading in Persian works of art that their accounts could be closed amid US sanctions against Iran.

A new art advisory group has been formed to help ease the pitfalls of buying and selling art and antiques.

The UK government has passed the third reading of the Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts) Bill, opposing amendments called for by the art and antiques trade.

Thousands of privately-owned works have become easier to access than ever before on a website launched by the Open Inheritance Art project.

Police are appealing for information after a painting by British artist Mary Potter was stolen at a recent fair in London.

A group of historians, museums and TV presenters including Alan Titchmarsh and David Starkey have condemned the slaughter of elephants but have argued the case for the defence of the antiques trade.

A pensioner thief has been sentenced to eight months' imprisonment after a series of art thefts.

Shop owners in London and the south of England are facing a significant increase in business rates when bills arrive in April.

The debate over the trade in antiques containing ivory reached Radio 4 last week. BBC Radio 4's daily consumer programme 'You & Yours' featured a slot on the topic with both wildlife charities and the antiques trade represented.

The antiquarian book trade has suffered one of its biggest-ever thefts after an audacious robbery in west London.

An oil painting by Parmigianino has been barred from export in the hope £24.5m can be raised to keep it in the UK.

Three paintings by Shaun Greenhalgh, the faker who was sentenced to four years in prison in 2007, are being offered at Bolton Auction Rooms later this month.

The government remains open-minded on proposals to extend its planned ban on trade in post-1947 ivory to antiques with ivory dating before this time, despite pressure from some MPs to do so.

A handful of MPs stood up for the antiques trade in a debate on the UK domestic ivory market in parliament yesterday, calling for antiques to be exempt from any ivory ban.

Sotheby’s has begun legal action against dealer Mark Weiss over the sale of a Frans Hals painting that it now believes to be “undoubtedly a forgery”. However Weiss said he will "contest the claim vigorously".

A parliamentary debate is to be held this afternoon in the House of Commons' Westminster Hall ahead of the launch of a government consultation.

Art dealers, lawyers and consultants have launched a new code of conduct to try to improve the image of the art market in Geneva.

A man from Sunderland who forged the work of local artist Norman Cornish (1919-2014) was jailed for three years and seven months last week.