Le rôle des codes de déontologie entre droit de l’art et régulation du marché

In the field of international protection of cultural property and of rules applciable to art work trading, beside the norms contained in international agreements, in the last years one can witness a proliferation of spontaneous or quasi-spontaneous rules that may be approximately classified in the category of the rules of conduct. Whether we are dealing with rules capable of creating obligations of at least a contractual nature, or with rules lacking of true binding nature, we can nonetheless acknowledge a meaningful likeness with the rules having developed in the commercial domain also by means of the lex mercatoria. IN both cases we are faced with a group of rules of conduct created by the same subjects to which they are addressed, functioning as i nstruments by whichprofessional milieux and categories involved self-regulate themselves. This study takes into account the main codes of conduct drafted by international organizations, institutions, bith public and private, in order to attempt a first survey of their influence on international commerce as instruments of art maarket regulation.