The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-644) is a truth-in-advertising law which prohibits
misrepresentation
In common law jurisdictions, a misrepresentation is a false or misleading '' R v Kylsant'' 931/ref> statement of fact made during negotiations by one party to another, the statement then inducing that other party to enter into a contract. The ...
in marketing of
American Indian or
Alaska Native arts and crafts products within the United States. It is illegal to offer or display for sale, or sell any art or craft product in a manner that falsely suggests it is Indian produced, an Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian or Indian Tribe or
Indian arts
Indian art consists of a variety of art forms, including painting, sculpture, pottery, and textile arts such as woven silk. Geographically, it spans the entire Indian subcontinent, including what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, N ...
and crafts organization, resident within the United States. For a first time violation of the Act, an individual can face civil or criminal penalties up to a $250,000 fine or a five-year prison term, or both. If a business violates the Act, it can face civil penalties or can be prosecuted and fined up to $1,000,000.
The law covers all Indian and Indian-style traditional and contemporary arts and crafts produced after 1935. The Act broadly applies to the marketing of arts and crafts by any person in the United States. Some traditional items frequently copied by non-Indians include Indian-style jewelry, pottery, baskets,
carved stone fetishes, woven rugs,
kachina
A kachina (; also katchina, katcina, or katsina; Hopi: ''katsina'' , plural ''katsinim'' ) is a spirit being in the religious beliefs of the Pueblo peoples, Native American cultures located in the south-western part of the United States. In th ...
figures, and clothing.
The
Indian Arts and Crafts Board, an agency established in 1934, has responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the Act.
Definitions
The
US Department of the Interior explicitly states on its informational website about the Act that, "Under the Act, an Indian is defined as a member of any federally or State recognized Indian Tribe, or an individual certified as an Indian artisan by an Indian Tribe."
In Section 309.2, the Act defines an "Indian tribe" as:
(1) Any Indian tribe, band, nation, Alaska Native village, or any organized group or community which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians; or (2) Any Indian group that has been formally recognized as an Indian tribe by a State legislature or by a State commission or similar organization legislatively vested with State tribal recognition authority.
All products must be marketed truthfully regarding the Indian heritage and tribal affiliation of the producers, so as not to mislead the consumer. It is illegal to market an art or craft item using the name of a tribe if a member, or certified Indian artisan, of that tribe did not actually create the art or craft item.
Section 309.4 of the act also allows for individuals with tribal ancestry who are not eligible for enrollment to be designated as "an Indian artisan by a particular tribe". The certification must be documented in writing by the tribal government.
The Act does not apply to
services
Service may refer to:
Activities
* Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty
* Civil service, the body of employees of a government
* Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...
as was revealed by the judgement in a case against
James Arthur Ray.
Controversy
Cultural anthropologist and attorney Gail Sheffield and others claim that this law has had "the unintended consequence of sanctioning discrimination against Native Americans whose tribal affiliation was not officially recognized". Those who claim to be Native artists but are not enrolled in a tribe run the risk of fines or imprisonment if they continue to sell their art while claiming Native heritage.
[Sam Blackwell,]
Playing Politics with Native American Art
" ''The Southeast Missourian'', October 6, 2000.
See also
*
Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood
A Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood or Certificate of Degree of Alaska Native Blood (both abbreviated CDIB) is an official U.S. document that certifies an individual possesses a specific fraction of Native American ancestry of a federally rec ...
*
Cultural appropriation
*
Indigenous intellectual property
Indigenous intellectual property is a term used in national and international forums to describe intellectual property that is "collectively owned" by various Indigenous peoples, and by extension, their legal rights to protect specific such prop ...
*
List of Alaska Native tribal entities
*
List of federally recognized tribes
This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...
*
State recognized tribes in the United States
State-recognized tribes in the United States are organizations that identify as Native American tribes or heritage groups that do not meet the criteria for federally recognized Indian tribes but have been recognized by a process established unde ...
*
Native American flute
The Native American flute is a flute that is held in front of the player, has open finger holes,
and has two chambers: one for collecting the breath of the player and a second chamber which creates sound.
The player breathes into one end of the ...
*
Protected Geographical Status
Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG), promote and protect nam ...
, a similar legal requirement of authenticity in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
*
Terroir
(, ; from ''terre'', "land") is a French term used to describe the environmental factors that affect a crop's phenotype, including unique environment contexts, farming practices and a crop's specific growth habitat. Collectively, these contex ...
*
Title 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations
Title 25 is the portion of the Code of Federal Regulations that governs Government-to-Government relations with Native American tribes within the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United Sta ...
References
External links
US Code Collection: Title 25—Indians, Chapter 7A—Promotion of Social and Economic Welfare.Cornell University Law School.
Page 785 of the Act(pdf file, section 309.2 contains the specific definitions)
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Native American art
United States federal Native American legislation
United States federal intellectual property legislation
United States trademark law
Country of origin
101st United States Congress