Considers the looting of works of art during the Nazi period and international and national initiatives to redress the problem. The Nuremberg Tribunal established the principle that the looting and destruction of art and cultural property constituted war crimes under international law, the Allied Powers issued the London Declaration notifying all neutral countries that all transactions carried out in occupied countries would be declared invalid, individual countires including Switzerland, Belgium and France passed national laws specfic to looted assets for a limited time period. Outlines international initiatives aimed at dealing with the problem incuding the European Commission on Looted Art 1999, the Holocaust Era Assets Conference in Washington where 44 states undertook to research and to return looted art within their national legisation, the Stockholm International Forum on Holocaust Education January 2000 and the Vilnius International Forum on the Holocaust Era Looted Cultural Asset in October 2000. Considers national initiatives and case law. The author recommends that arbitration and other forms of dispute resolution which as mediation could be used to resolve disputes over ownership.initiatives and case law.