The experts on the status of meteorites in Russia

The Russian Agency of Legal and Judicial Information questioned lawyers on how the fallen meteorites were to be disposed of from the legal point of view. We remind that the interest to the matter grew after a meteorite fell in Chelyabinsk region of February 15 of 2013, and businesslike citizens, who managed to find its fragments, started selling them.

Alexander Bolomatov, Associated Partner of the Law Firm "YUST", shared his view with RAPSI.

The issue of the ownership title to a fallen heavenly body is not regulated. Meteorites are not formally acknowledged as subsoil. When a meteorite gets into a land plot, it is apparently disposed of with the consent of the plot’s owner. There is an obligation, fixed for the subsoil users, to inform the license authority of the discovered meteorite of scientific and cultural interest. There is no such requirement for other owners. There is no doubt that such objects may be negotiable. Their circulation is not limited by any acts.

See the full version at the agency’s website.