South Carolina § 54-7-650 - Licenses to conduct activities affecting submerged archaeological historic or paleontological properties; recovered property.

§ 54-7-650. Licenses to conduct activities affecting submerged archaeological historic or paleontological properties; recovered property.

(A) A person desiring to conduct activities pursuant to this article in the course of which submerged archaeological historic properties or paleontological properties may be removed, displaced, or destroyed shall apply to the institute for a license to conduct the activity. If the institute finds that the granting of the license is in the best interests of the State, it may grant it for the time and under the conditions the institute considers appropriate to this article.

(B) The institute may enter into agreements with licensees for the disposition of recovered submerged archaeological historic property and submerged paleontological property.

(C) The disposition may include division of the recovered property with the licensee.

(D) The division may be in value or in kind, with the institute acting as arbiter of the division in the best interests of the State and giving due consideration to the fair treatment of the licensee. Any agreement entered into by the institute must provide for the licensee to receive reasonable compensation for any recovered submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property claimed and turned over to the State.

(E) No license is required of the institute or, where submerged paleontological property is involved, the South Carolina Museum Commission, which may conduct any undertakings provided for by this article. All recovered submerged archaeological historic property and submerged paleontological property belong to the State.

(F) Any persons desiring to recover anything of value other than submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property must obtain permission from the Department of Administration under the terms the department determines.

(G) A person may not knowingly recover, collect, excavate, or disturb a submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property on submerged lands over which the State has sovereign control without a license from the institute.

(H) The institute shall issue and administer licenses for any activity involving the recovering, collecting, excavation, or disturbance of submerged archaeological historic property and submerged paleontological property on submerged lands over which the State has sovereign control.

HISTORY: 1991 Act No. 169, SECTION 1.