Metal Detecting Laws in Lebanon

A general national rule for hobby metal detecting in Lebanon could not be confirmed. Archaeological excavation on any land requires a license for scientific work by a scientific body; that does not settle ordinary detector use or searches for modern lost items. Anyone who finds a movable antiquity by chance, or discovers an immovable antiquity outside legally authorized excavations, must report it to the nearest administrative authority within 24 hours.

The rules, land by land

Even where detecting is allowed, archaeological and historic sites are protected, and you must fill every hole and follow posted rules. Always confirm the current rule with the land manager.

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Detecting and archaeological excavation

The نظام للاثار القديمة (Antiquities Law), Articles 56–57, requires a license for archaeological excavation on any land. Applications are accepted only in the name of scientific bodies for scientific excavation, and the person directing the work must demonstrate archaeological experience. These provisions do not establish a general rule for every detector sweep or every non-archaeological hole.

Article 22 of الممتلكات الثقافية (Cultural Property Law), Law 37/2008, continues the Antiquities Law and its amendments while requiring account to be taken of the 2008 law. The older excavation provisions name the High Commissioner as licensing authority; a present application form, fee and administrative process could not be confirmed. Article 3(2) of the 2008 law assigns administration of the specified archaeological cultural property to the Ministry of Culture.

Protected historic land and private property

On land registered as a historic monument, Article 35 of the Antiquities Law requires permission from the antiquities authority for digging or changing the land. This restriction applies to recovering a target by digging there, even though the article does not expressly regulate detector sweeping. Archaeological excavation still falls under the separate scientific licensing requirements. Article 12 of the Cultural Property Law also requires ministerial authorization for the alterations it lists to recognized or classified cultural property.

A general hobby-detecting rule for private land could not be confirmed. Under Article 61 of the Antiquities Law, a licensed archaeological excavator working on private land must obtain the owner’s consent. Article 62 provides separate rental and compulsory-acquisition procedures. These provisions do not give hobbyists a general right to enter private land, and an owner’s consent alone does not authorize archaeological excavation.

Beaches, forests and nature reserves

A general hobby-detecting rule for beaches and foreshore could not be confirmed. Without prejudice to existing provisions governing occupation of public property, article 33 of حماية البيئة (Environmental Protection Law), Law 444, prohibits works on maritime or river public property that obstruct free access to coasts and sandy beaches, erode or degrade the site, or threaten the marine-protection interests in Article 29(1). It does not expressly authorize detecting or establish a permit requirement for every act of digging.

A general hobby-detecting rule for state forests could not be confirmed either. Article 99 of قانون الغابات (Forest Law) requires permission from the forest service or forest owner to extract or remove listed materials, including stones, sand, minerals and soil. Whether this materials-extraction provision covers every form of detector-target recovery could not be confirmed.

For nature reserves and natural parks, a nationwide hobby-detecting rule could not be confirmed. Article 8 of قانون المناطق المحمية (Protected Areas Law), Law 130/2019, allows public visits and environmentally friendly activities in nature reserves in line with their management plans, but does not identify metal detecting as an allowed activity. Article 7 makes those plans binding on public and private persons. Article 21 preserves the establishing laws of reserves created under earlier laws, so the visitor provision does not establish detecting permission at every reserve or natural park.

Reporting an antiquity: 24 hours

Under Articles 9 and 11 of the Antiquities Law, anyone who finds a movable antiquity by chance, or discovers an immovable antiquity outside legally authorized excavations, must report it to the nearest administrative authority within 24 hours of discovery. For immovable antiquities, Article 9 applies regardless of the place, circumstances or work being undertaken.

The administrative authority must then notify the director of antiquities and the regional national-museum custodian without delay. Those are the offices named in the statutory text. The 24-hour duty concerns antiquities; it is not a confirmed reporting deadline for ordinary lost property.

Who owns a chance antiquity find?

For a movable antiquity discovered by chance, Articles 12–13 of the Antiquities Law give the State three months from presentation of the object, or administrative notification about it, to purchase it for one-third of its value. The law provides for valuation by agreement or arbitration. If the State does not exercise its purchase right, it must notify the finder within that period. The finder becomes owner on receiving that notification, which serves as title; discovery or simply waiting three months does not by itself establish ownership.

This finder’s right covers only the object actually and directly discovered, not objects from excavations prompted by that accidental discovery. Under Article 14, a finder’s sale before the State communicates its decision is void. Under Article 16, failure to report as required by Articles 9 or 11 prevents the finder from gaining title through long possession.

Immovable antiquities follow a different rule. Under Article 10, an immovable antiquity discovered outside authorized excavations belongs to the State unless it forms part of a building owned by an individual, endowment, community or other legal person; in that case, it belongs to the property owner. Finding an immovable antiquity in privately owned cultivated or built land does not itself remove State ownership.

Recognized or classified cultural property also has separate transfer controls under Article 12 of the Cultural Property Law. Ministerial authorization is required for the transfers and alterations listed there, and transfers of classified property to the foreign categories in Article 12(3) require a decree. These controls do not establish a general right to keep a newly found object.

Ordinary lost property and treasure

Article 673 of قانون العقوبات (Penal Code) prohibits appropriating, concealing or refusing to return ordinary lost property. It also covers movable property that enters someone’s possession by mistake, accidentally or through force majeure, and applies to another person’s share of treasure.

The complete ownership rules for all finds could not be confirmed. Article 673 does not establish ordinary treasure shares, a finder’s waiting period or eventual ownership after an unsuccessful search for the owner.

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