Metal Detecting Laws

[vic]

Hi guys been trying to find out what the laws are over seas with Metal detectors.
Flying out to Greece Turkey and Macedonia tomorrow morning. Ive tried to ring the Macedonian embassy and they won't confirm the law, the place i would love to detect is macedonia any info would be great
cheers Vic

 

[user 1769]

Most European countries are pretty restrictive. Until recently even owning one in Spain could get you in trouble.
Make sure you find out for sure.

Cheers, and if you can take it, good luck!

M

 

[SCROUNGER]

What was the reason for getting in trouble for owning one mfdes?

 

[vic]

thanks mfdes, looks like it might have to stay home i don't want to run the risk of it being taken off me by customs

 

[vic]

not sure if its true but did have someone tell me he knew of someone being find $3000 and detector taken off them by customs as first warning.

 

[SCROUNGER]

But why can't you take them out of the country or use them? I don't understand.

 

[vic]

you can take them out of Australia but some countries don't allow them in its a bit silly i think

 

[Ramjet]

Detectors are illegal in some countries. One reason that comes to mind is land mines.

 

[SCROUNGER]

Oh Ok, i'm a bit (a lot sometimes) slow, that didn't even occur to me. I would've thought that having a detector where there are land mines would be a good thing though!!!

 

[rocketaroo]

Recently spoke to a greek guy, said its illegal in his country. He saw me detecting, and wanted to know the laws. Reasons for greece would include protection of ancient treasures, and the sites you would find them in. He did detect there though! I want to move to england, find hammered, and roman, allday long with any detector!

 

[user 1769]

The main reason in Spain is that they have historically been used mostly to plunder its archaeological heritage. While no longer illegal to own as such, getting permits to detect public land is still difficult. If you perchance find any historical artifacts, they must be immediately surrendered to the nearest museum or police station.
The amazing thing is that the public is very much on board with this, and if you're seen metal detecting, people immediately jump to the conclusion that you're poaching / despoiling archaeological heritage, and you get challenged in a heartbeat...

 

[grubstake]

The Republic of Ireland (Eire) also has very stringent laws regarding the use of metal detectors - apparently it's legal to buy and own one, just as long as you don't actually use it (Murphy's Law!)
http://www.johnwinter.net/jw/2015/0...cting-and-the-republic-of-ireland/#more-26540

 

[Dr4gul3]

I was watching clips on youtube recently of a bloke on a detecting trip to Germany, and digging a couple of guns, and medals and the like. its understandable why there would be laws in place to protect the national treasures and all that.. its just a pity Australia isn't really that old and therefore doesn't have a huge amount to find. I reckon Britain would be great given their history! pretty much anywhere in Europe I would imagine to be pretty cool!

 

[noncents]

I read that metal detecting in Croatia is allowed on beaches, but anything found before World War 1 or 2 ( not sure which one ) is heritage listed and belongs to the country. Macedonia might have the same rules.

 

[mbasko]

These blokes might be able to give you some info on Macedonia:
http://metaldetector.com.mk/about-magento-demo-store/

Doesn't sound promising for keeping anything though:
http://paul-barford.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/two-americans-caught-smuggling.html?m=1

Some different laws (10 years old):
http://www.colchestertreasurehunting.co.uk/treasurelaws.htm