The Commission primarily obtains assurances regarding the protection and preservation of cultural property by negotiating formal, bilateral agreements between the United States and foreign governments. Negotiations with the governments of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and adjacent parts of the former Soviet Union are conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State.

Twenty three bilateral agreements are currently in effect – with the Czech Republic, Romania, Ukraine, Slovenia, the Slovak Republic, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Estonia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Armenia, Albania, Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Georgia, Montenegro, and Italy.

The Commission is seeking agreements with five other countries: Azerbaijan; Belarus; Greece; the Russian Federation; and Turkey.

Continued