Mediation and advice

When to consult us — individuals, professionals and public bodies

The service addresses the three positions of the market and of restitution:

• Holders (collectors, dealers, auction houses, foundations) facing a claim, a documented doubt over provenance, or wishing to prevent litigation before a transaction.
• Claimants (descendants of dispossessed families, states of origin, source communities) seeking to formalise a restitution request or to reconstruct an object's trajectory.
• Institutions and public bodies (museums, universities, foundations, cultural administrations, customs authorities, international cooperation services) wishing to establish an internal provenance procedure or to respond to an external request in line with current ethical and legal standards.

Our approach

Confidential mediation between the parties, conducted by one or two neutral lawyers. Sessions in French or English, in Geneva or remote. Sessions in German or Italian available with linguistic support.

In-depth documentary research: dealer archives, spoliation registries, catalogues raisonnés, judicial and administrative records, occupation and restitution archives.

Reasoned written opinion with actionable recommendations: transaction to suspend, restitution proceedings to initiate, formal provenance procedure to establish, or case closure where the evidence allows.

The service does not include purchase or sale mandates, nor representation in court — the objective is clarification and agreement, not litigation.

For institutions

Museums, universities and foundations face increasingly formalised restitution requests and growing transparency obligations (Washington Principles 1998, AAM standards, revised LTBC 2026). TraceArt supports institutions in three types of mission:

• Establishing or reviewing an internal provenance research procedure, in line with Swiss and international standards
• Drafting a substantiated response to an external restitution request: documentary analysis, legal qualification, identification of appropriate resolution pathways
• Preventive mediation before a transaction or acquisition with a lacunary provenance

First conversation, no commitment: contact@traceart.app

Confidentiality

Strict confidentiality engagement. Information communicated in the context of a mediation is never published, transmitted to third parties without express consent, or used for other purposes. The professional secrecy of Swiss lawyers applies as a matter of law (Article 13 of the Federal Lawyers Act).

No photograph, document or correspondence is retained beyond the time required by the mandate, unless the parties instruct otherwise.