How Legislative Disparities Affect the Management, Custody and Protection of Movable Palaeontological Heritage? The Case of Spain

Abstract The custody of palaeontological geoheritage in Spain is marked by significant disparities in regional legislation and the types of museums that house the collections. Museums or institutions designated by the 17 Spanish regional administrations to store, and manage the movable palaeontological heritage in Spain often do not have palaeontology as their main focus. This results in substantial differences in conservation and management practices, as each region has its legal framework for natural and cultural heritage, within which fossils and palaeontological heritage -both movable and immovable- are defined. Each regional administration developed the transposition of the National Law 16/1985 of the Spanish Historical Heritage. One of the main issues identified is that many regional legislations do not explicitly consider the institution responsible for housing the movable palaeontological heritage of each territory. In most cases, archaeological museums are designated as repositories, and only one region (Castile-La Mancha) recognizes a dedicated palaeontological museum exclusively for this purpose, as established by its regional legal regulations. This means that the measures for the treatment, conservation and management of the movable palaeontological heritage are completely heterogeneous in Spain depending on each Autonomous Region, which could endanger its future survival. A detailed analysis of this situation has been conducted, which may be applicable to other countries that are reviewing and developing specific legislation on movable palaeontological heritage.