Sending paintings abroad in 2025
Art DomApril 13, 2025In 2025, new rules for shipping paintings and other art objects abroad came into force. In this article, we will describe what documents are needed to send art objects abroad, what are the new rules and restrictions for shipping paintings abroad, and how best to pack paintings for reliable international delivery..
What documents are needed to send paintings abroad in 2025?
To send art objects - paintings, icons, sculptures, you need permission from an expert, which will indicate that this is not a cultural value of national importance and that this object is allowed to be sent, transported across the border of Ukraine. This document can be issued by an expert based on the application of the owner of the object, if the art object meets the following parameters:
- is not included in the Register of Cultural Heritage of Ukraine;
- is not included in the Register of Stolen, Lost and Wanted Items;
- is not included in the Register of Art Objects Prohibited for Export;
- is not an antique and was created after 1950.
The legislation of Ukraine has established such restrictions due to the cultural, spiritual and historical development of our state. The current legal form of Ukraine was adopted 34 years ago, by declaring independence adopted by the Resolution of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR on August 24, 1991. Therefore, the legislator decided to preserve cultural values on the territory of Ukraine. Legislative acts that regulate the procedure for exporting art objects abroad and processing documents (export permits):
- Law of Ukraine "On Export, Import and Return of Cultural Values" № 1068-XIV
- Instructions on the procedure for registration of the right to export, temporary export of cultural values and control over their movement across the state border of Ukraine, approved by the order of the Ministry of Culture and Arts of Ukraine № 258 dated 22.04.2002
- Law of Ukraine "On Culture" № 2778-VI
- Law of Ukraine "On the Protection of Cultural Heritage" № 1805-III
How to obtain permission to export paintings abroad?
To obtain permission, you need:
- an art object - a painting, drawing, print (if it is graphics - linocut, etching, engraving, silkscreen), sculpture, icon, for which a document is required - in an open form for visual inspection by an expert;
- two color photographs of the object on an A4 sheet;
- an application addressed to the expert with a description of the object (full name of the author, creator, year of creation, dimensions, technique) with a request to provide permission to export abroad.
Along with the application, you must pay a state fee for consideration of the application and issuance of a document on a state form. The term for consideration of the application is up to 30 days, including working days. If a painting or other piece of art can be exported, then, following the review, the applicant receives an expert opinion, which will contain the wording for the customs service "permitted to transport outside the border of Ukraine". When crossing the border in person, be sure to take the document with you to present at the customs post. When sending by postal services, attach the permit to the outside of the box, as we have shown in our photographs below.
Order permission to export paintings abroad from ArtDom and get an expert opinion in just 1-2 days.
After receiving the document, you can proceed to the next step.
Packaging art objects for international delivery
Art objects are fragile by nature and require special care during storage and transportation. As they often say - a painting is valuable as long as it is intact. ArtDom Gallery has been selling items and delivering items - paintings, graphics, sculptures, icons - abroad for over 7 years. We have sent over 2,000 parcels to 70 countries around the world, gained extensive experience in international delivery of fragile and valuable items, and thanks to this, we have developed our own packaging option.
The main factors when calculating the cost of delivery are weight and size. Therefore, it is so important to make high-quality and reliable packaging that it is not too heavy. After all, the higher the weight, the higher the cost of delivery. And sometimes it happens that the delivery rate is higher than the cost of the item itself. In 2018, we came up with our own option - reinforced cardboard boxes, which will satisfy us, protect on the way to international delivery and deliver the art piece to the buyer intact and safe. Also, the packaging should have an additional function - opening and closing for inspection during customs control while maintaining protective functions.
For reliable delivery, we add to the boxes - several types of shock-absorbing materials - air bubble wrap, foam plastic and a protective frame made of corners. For the shell, we use special 5-layer cardboard, instead of the usual 3-layer. Thus, a new product appeared on the Ukrainian market - a frame box, and for more than 7 years now it has been helping many galleries, artists, and art lovers to calmly deliver paintings and sculptures around the world, knowing that they will arrive intact.
For very fragile art objects and/or when there is an opportunity to increase the delivery budget, we manufacture reinforced boxes made of fiberboard and wooden slats. This design will protect the item from even more external factors that can damage an expensive and valuable item. The box itself weighs from 5 kg - so this significantly affects the international delivery rate.
For particularly valuable and fragile works of art requiring maximum protection during international transportation, we recommend the production of reinforced fiberboard (HDF) crates. Such packaging, strengthened with a wooden frame, provides increased resistance to mechanical impact, shocks, and vibrations, minimizing the risk of damage during international shipping. The interior space of the crate is filled with multiple layers of cushioning materials, such as bubble wrap and foam, which ensures additional fixation and preservation of the artwork.
As in cardboard boxes, we add several layers of cushioning materials to wooden boxes - bubble wrap and foam. Video review of our boxes for shipping paintings on our YouTube channel:
Sending paintings abroad
Today, there are two options for exporting art objects abroad - 1) land transportation (railway, personal transport or ordering freight services), 2) sending by postal services. Let's take a closer look at each of the options.
If you are traveling by train or crossing the border by car, you only need to have the item itself in a package that you can open and show to customs officials, an export document from an expert, and a customs declaration form MD-2*.
If you ordered international transportation, you must hand over the painting in a box that opens and closes easily, protecting the item during transportation, a document from an expert for export abroad in Ukrainian and preferably also in English**.
When sending paintings, sculptures, icons by postal services - you need to carefully pack the item to protect it from falls, damage and other factors that will be encountered along the way of the parcel (loading into postal terminals, sorting centers, trucks). Also, you need to secure the export permit from the expert on the outside of the box. The same document in English** should be put inside the parcel. To send by mail, you also fill out a customs declaration on form CN23, where you indicate the details of the sender, recipient, description of the contents of the parcel, estimated value.
** When crossing the border from the Ukrainian side - representatives of our customs service can take a document in Ukrainian. They have every right to do so, since they are obliged to submit a report on the cultural values exported from Ukraine. In addition, this examination is valid only on the territory of Ukraine. Therefore, when the painting gets to the customs control of the recipient country (destination country) - you can provide (put in the parcel) the necessary document in English. The document in English will prove that the painting was exported from Ukraine legally, and this document also indicates the estimated value, which will allow customs services to correctly calculate the cost of customs clearance.
* If you are transporting especially valuable items in person, sending by mail and / or more than 3 identical items - you are required to fill out a customs declaration in which you indicate your details and a description of the items crossing the border. To comply with the customs regime, you are required to clear the items through customs and upon arrival in another country, clear them through customs (pay customs duties).
The innovations of the US administration represented by their President Donald Trump are worth special mention, namely the updated customs policy, where customs duties on average from 10 to 20% were introduced for many countries.
A frequent postal operator used by our gallery and our customers is Ukrposhta. In terms of international delivery, they are a reliable operator that has been working in this field for over 30 years and has all the attributes - certifications, licenses and cooperation agreements with 240 countries of the world. We cannot say the same about Nova Poshta today, since it has not received all the necessary documents for the delivery of art objects abroad. We have previously published an article on this topic.
The main change of 2025 is the Ukrposhta rule that the size of international parcels should not exceed 200-300 cm according to the calculation formula. Each of the 240 countries has its own rules and restrictions for the delivery of parcels. For example, in the UAE it is 200 cm, in the USA - 274 cm, in Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany - 300 cm.
The formula for calculating the delivery of international parcels by Ukrposhta:
| The largest side (length) + (2 * width) + thickness ≤ 200-300 cm For example, here is how the dimensions of a box with dimensions of 60 x 80 x 10 cm will be calculated: 80 + (2 * 60) + 10 = 80 + 120 + 10 = 210 cm |
If you have any questions or need advice, please contact ArtDom. We will be happy to advise you and help you choose the best option for international delivery of art objects.
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