Law, crime and regulation

Two 15th century painted panels from an oak screen which is one of the finest examples of its kind have been ripped out by thieves at a Devon church.

Fair organisers IACF say they may be forced to charge dealers VAT on stalls this year – even as they launch a legal appeal against new Revenue rules demanding the levy.

The Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers (SOFAA) will hold a CPD seminar on Monday, September 2, titled ‘CITES – What’s Going On?’

The British Numismatic Trade Association is in mourning after member Giuseppe Miceli was killed at his home in Northampton.

The British government has placed a temporary export bar on a rare piece of jewellery that belonged to Jane Austen.

Business is continuing to improve but the rate of recovery has slowed among London’s fine art dealers, their trade association’s latest survey reveals.

Dealers standing at fairs across the UK will soon face a 20% rise in stall rents as HM Revenue & Customs enforce new VAT rules.

Olympia organisers Clarion Events have issued a warning to exhibitors after they were targeted by another of the scam guides so often reported on these pages.

New rules governing trade in the parts of endangered species will hit the antiques trade harder than first thought.

UK dealers and auction houses have been alerted to the theft of six oil paintings by Evie Hone from a church in Ireland.

A new decree under French law has banned the mailing of banknotes, coins, jewellery and precious metals using the standard French postal system.

A Suffolk-based jewellery dealer with over 30 years experience in the trade faces ruin after falling victim to a sophisticated robbery last month.

New guidance from the European Commission has significantly tightened CITES rules, effectively banning the sale of a far wider range of antiques linked to endangered species.

Changes to the temporary import VAT scheme this month could have a major impact on dealers’ cash flow if they do not complete the necessary paperwork soon.

Henri Gros, partner in the Paris auctioneers Gros & Delettrez, has been suspended for two months for accepting €200,000 in small denomination notes from a Chinese buyer after the Paul-Louis Weiller sale in April 2011.

Three men who hid a £5m antiques haul taken from three country homes will be sentenced in a month’s time after the last of the gang admitted his guilt.

Two items of silver stolen from a Worcestershire house have been returned to the owner after a dealer recognised one of them from an alert in ATG.

Three men who were responsible for a sophisticated credit card fraud which targeted auction houses across the country have now been sentenced.

A Lonsdale Belt awarded to Welsh heavyweight boxing champion Jack Petersen has been stolen from his son’s home.

A UK-based businessman has been arrested on suspicion of looting Egyptian artefacts after he consigned several items into a Christie’s antiquities sale in London.