Legislative Frameworks of Architectural Heritage Conservation Acts: A Comparative Study across Nations

Egypt is a country full of its unique architectural heritage, and The Egyptian Antiquities Protection Law No. 117, issued in 1983 and subsequent amendments represent the law implicitly responsible for preserving Egyptian heritage. The numerous amendments to this law aimed to meet contemporary requirements and implementation challenges. The research problem is that the current Egyptian heritage conservation law and its legislative amendments remain inadequate in addressing the challenges of heritage conservation in Egypt. This research aims to leverage the international experiences to enhance the effectiveness of the Egyptian law for heritage preservation. By adopting a comparative descriptive analytical methodology, the study draws insights from heritage conservation laws in countries such as South Africa and New Zealand and aims to identify how these countries formulate their legislative frameworks for heritage conservation and compare them with the current Egyptian law and its amendments. The researcher has formulated a series of recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of the current Egyptian heritage conservation law. These recommendations draw on the strengths of the legal frameworks in countries like New Zealand and South Africa, particularly their focus on governance as a means of enforcing and applying the law. Key elements include developing long-term strategic heritage conservation plans, identifying authorized entities, transitioning from strategic to operational levels, and creating economic and financing plans. Additionally, they emphasize performance monitoring, inspection, and supervision of implementation. By addressing critical challenges and incorporating exemplary practices from various legal contexts, these recommendations aim to significantly improve heritage conservation efforts in Egypt.