While the bill will mainly focus on African nations at first, it’s designed to have a global reach, speeding up the return of cultural objects currently held in France’s national collections.

According to the Ministry of Culture, the artifacts in question were taken illegally between 1815 and 1972. The year 1815 marks the end of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, and 1972 is when UNESCO’s convention to stop illegal trade of cultural property came into effect.

The bill would ease France’s strict rule that national collection items are “inalienable” (basically, can’t be given away or removed). That restriction will be lifted for pieces that were taken through theft, looting, forced surrender, or gifts made under pressure or violence—or from someone who shouldn’t have owned them in the first place.

Instead of requiring a separate law each time an object is returned, decisions could now be made either directly by the French government or by a joint scientific committee. This committee would include French historians and experts, along with specialists from the country requesting the artifact. Their job would be to identify the items and confirm, if needed, that they were indeed taken unlawfully.