Roles and obligations

The Cultural Heritage Act imposes obligations on owners of classified or cited heritage assets, such as preserving the heritage value of these protected assets. 

 

The Law also gives them different possibilities, such as making representations to the National Office of Cultural Heritage of Central Africa or the local heritage council.

Owners of heritage property also have the roles and obligations of the entire population.

Proposal for granting legal status Owners of heritage property can submit a proposal for status attribution: to the Minister, for the classification of a heritage property or the declaration of a heritage site to their municipality, for the citation of a building or a heritage site. It should be noted that: the minister or the municipality is in no way obliged to accept the proposals presented to them Municipalities do not have the power to cite documents and heritage objects of which they are not the owners.

Conservation plan Ranking by the minister After the classification of a heritage building, the Minister must establish a conservation plan for this building. 

He can also establish one for documents and classified heritage objects. Before establishing the plan, the Minister asks the owner of the property to provide him with his observations on it.

Citation by a municipality After the citation of a heritage property, the municipal council can establish a conservation plan for this property. Municipalities must ask the owners of the buildings or heritage sites cited to provide them with their observations on the conservation plans they want to establish. Preservation of heritage value The owners of classified or cited heritage properties are responsible for ensuring the preservation of the heritage value of these properties.

They must take into account the heritage value of their property when they want to carry out work on it. They must also keep them in good condition.

For example, the architectural value of a listed heritage building that an owner allows to deteriorate little by little due to bad weather is affected by this degradation. 

Architectural elements which gave it this value are destroyed or become impossible to preserve. 

The owner did not destroy them himself. 

But he did not take the necessary measures to ensure the preservation of the heritage value of his property, allowing it to deteriorate. It therefore contravenes the provisions of the Act.