Coin Collectors Sue U.S. State Department

    GAINESVILLE, Mo., Nov. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Ancient Coin
 Collectors Guild (ACCG), an advocacy group for private collectors and
 independent scholars, announced the filing today of a Freedom of
 Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U. S. State Department (DOS).
 According to Wayne G. Sayles, executive director of the guild, this action
 became unavoidable due to persistent refusal of the Bureau of Educational
 and Cultural Affairs (ECA) to provide the guild and others with information
 relating to requests for import restrictions. The DOS recently imposed
 unprecedented import restrictions on ancient coins from Cyprus, requiring
 importers of even a single common coin of Cypriot type to provide unfair,
 unworkable and unnecessary documentation.
     The ACCG seeks information relating to requests from Cyprus, China and
 Italy. In each case, apparent irregularities in the way these requests were
 handled led to significant concerns. Members of the U.S. Senate and House
 of Representatives also requested similar information on behalf of the ACCG
 and others. "None of these avenues produced responsive replies," said Peter
 K. Tompa, ACCG president. "The reason for this lawsuit is that the DOS has
 refused to provide meaningful information. We seek transparency and
 fairness of the process by which decisions affecting the American people
 are made." The ACCG, joined in this suit by the International Association
 of Professional Numismatists and the Professional Numismatists Guild, is
 represented by Washington DC attorney Scott A. Hodes. Mr. Hodes is a former
 FOIA and Privacy Act attorney for the Department of Justice and the FBI.
     The imposition of import restrictions is a remedy made available to DOS
 by the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA) enacted in
 1983. This law, while providing emergency protection for endangered
 cultural property, includes a detailed and comprehensive safeguards to
 limit overreaching implementation of the 1970 UNESCO accord. The fair and
 equitable application of this law is viewed by the coin collector community
 and associated trade as essential to achieving any measure of protection on
 a broad and continuing scale. The ACCG (http://accg.us) argues that
 fairness and equity can only be satisfied by a system that is transparent
 and subject to oversight. They hope that this lawsuit will help encourage
 the State Department to revamp its procedures to ensure the fundamental
 fairness to all that the law demands.
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SOURCE Ancient Coin Collectors Guild