RESPONSIBLE COMMUNITY

These are all those who strive to enjoy Ukrainian traditional art, and at the same time, care about its preservation and ethical use, who accept the principles of: responsible collecting, responsible exhibition, and responsible use of content, and share the Core Values, Core Purpose and Vision of the KROVETS project. In particular, that includes all visitors and all registered Users and Subscribers of ONLINE MUSEUM OF TRADITIONAL ART OF UKRAINE – KROVETS https://krovets.ua (hereinafter the Site)

Our community is not a “closed club” of snobs, ethno-gurus, or “great Ukrainians” blinded by the beauty of traditional art; it is more like an “ocean of small drops that split a stone” who, through joint efforts, seek to collect, preserve, digitize, and publish all the masterpieces, and not-so-masterpieces, of Ukrainian traditional art that can still be saved.

As in any business, to achieve outstanding results, it is not enough to just do the right things from time to time; it is equally important to not do the wrong things all the time. That is why we strive to build an ecosystem that will promote civilized practices and will not tolerate a savage attitude towards our country, our heritage, and the rights of content authors.

These Community Standards (hereinafter the Standards) are intended to outline the minimum acceptable behavior that follows from the Core Values, Core Purpose and Vision of the KROVETS project and the requirements of regulatory acts, in particular: ICOM Code of Museum Ethics, the Law of Ukraine “On Museums and Museum Affairs”, the Rules of Trade in Antiques, the Law of Ukraine “On Copyright and Related Rights”, however, these Standards in no way cancel, replace or diminish the need to comply with all the requirements of the aforementioned regulatory acts, and all other applicable legislative acts and professional norms and standards.

The statements below in the form of personal confession are regarded as mandatory Standards to be adhered to by each member of the Community and each User and Subscriber of the Site.

PRINCIPLES:

RESPONSIBLE COLLECTING

Responsible collecting – involves: proper preservation, ethical acquisition, avoidance of conflicts of interest, exclusively professional restoration, timely description and digitization of collections, compliance with the ban on personal use of exhibits (including dressing exhibits, borrowing them for photo and video sessions at which exhibits are being worn by persons, etc.). In case of sale of exhibits, compliance with the current Rules for the Trade in Antiques and current Tax legislation. The purpose of responsible collecting is to replenish and digitize the Museum Fund of Ukraine and preserve it in the best possible condition.

RESPONSIBLE EXHIBITION

Responsible exhibition – involves all methods of exhibition permitted by international museum standards and codes that do not expose the exhibits to any kind of damage and destruction (in particular, the permitted methods of exhibition do not include the following: showing exhibits being worn by persons, photo and video sessions using exhibits being worn by persons). The purpose of the responsible exhibition is to popularize the Museum Fund of Ukraine in the safest possible way.

RESPONSIBLE USE OF CONTENT (PHOTO-REPRODUCTIONS)

Responsible use of content – involves the use of content, in particular, photo-reproductions of exhibits from the Site, in compliance with all copyright laws and all requirements of the content owners. The purpose of the responsible use of content is the widest and most profitable public and commercial use of content, in particular, photo-reproductions of exhibits, in compliance with all the rights of the owners of this content.

RULES:

1. PRESERVATOIN OF COLLECTIONS

Preservation of exhibits prevails over all the other rules because otherwise, in the future, there will be nothing to collect, digitize, and exhibit. Nothing justifies actions that expose exhibits to the risks of wear, damage or destruction. There are no important and unimportant, valuable and invaluable exhibits - all of them, without exception, are primary evidence according to ICOM Code of Museum Ethics and the (non-)state part of the Museum Fund of Ukraine according to the Law of Ukraine "On Museums and Museum Affairs" (Article 15), and all of them must be preserved in the best possible condition for posterity. Information about exhibits is as important, as the physical objects themself, and needs protection and preservation, like the exhibits themselves.

1.1. I apply all possible efforts to keep the exhibits in proper conditions and in a condition not worse than that in which they were purchased/acquired.  To preserve exhibits, I undertake conservation actions, minimize contact with the exhibits, and do not expose the exhibits to the risk of physical wear, damage, destruction;

1.2. I do not use the exhibits personally and do not allow others to do so (see p.2.26) - I do not wear the exhibits from the clothing category, do not use the exhibit from the household items category for their original purposes, do not borrow the exhibits for photo-video sessions which may involve wearing the exhibits;

1.3. I do not interfere or make changes to exhibits – I do not “restore original colors or patterns”, I do not “improve”, I do not “give new life”, I do not add or sew new parts or patterns to original exhibits, I do not “punch out or detach the unnecessary from them”, I do not use exhibits and their parts as s decoration for new things/works/products, I do not forge exhibits, I do not change the time of creation, I do not restore exhibits myself in an unprofessional way (without having a valid restoration qualification) - professional restoration in Ukraine can be ordered from the National Research Restoration Center).

1.4. I apply all possible efforts to capture and record all available information about each exhibit and related information. I store in appropriate conditions all the paper-based (non-digital) archives with information about exhibits and related information (about events, people, etc.), and digitize them. I safely store digital archives (in multiple copies in different locations/cloud storage/RAID arrays). I do not change, substitute, modify or destroy information about exhibits and related information.

2. COLLECTING AND SELLING COLLECTIONS

When collecting my own collection of exhibits, I adhere to ethical considerations and avoid conflicts of interest.

2.1. I do not collect my own collection while holding any positions in state, municipal and other museums (see p.8.16) - because this may provoke a conflict of interest;

2.2. I do not pretend to be a museum worker or a museum employee when trying to acquire an exhibit, instead, I promptly inform the item owners that I am a private collector and therefore will be able to sell the acquired exhibit to third parties at my discretion;

2.3. I record all available information about each exhibit when purchasing exhibits from the owners, and demand such information from dealers. Information about the exhibit not collected in time is lost forever, it is practically impossible to obtain or restore it later;

2.4. I do not change the original provenance. I do not invent lost names and stories about exhibits, I do not overstate the price of exhibits in any way. I do not present my assumptions, judgments, and guesstimates regarding the origin or provenance of exhibits as real facts and evidence;

2.5. I do not try to acquire exhibits at any cost - I do not break into abandoned houses to search for exhibits, I do not buy exhibits which may turn out to be stolen, I do not buy exhibits from "dissmissed" museums and from the existing museums, I do not undercut the purchase price from owners/authors by taking advantage of their lack of knowledge of the real market prices or their hardship;

2.6. I do not acquire exhibits without having proper conditions for their preservation and storage (see Standards on Accessioning);

2.7. I do not engage in systematic (more than one item per month) sale and resale of exhibits without complying with the current Rules for the Trade in Antiques and the requirements of Tax Legislation. In particular, I do not sell exhibits as an individual (without registration as an individual entrepreneur), or as an individual entrepreneur without the appropriate licenses.

2.8. I do not own, do not acquire, do not conduct searches and excavations, do not sell collections and exhibits of archaeological origin. I do not conduct searches for exhibits with a metal detector, do not excavate archaeological items on my own or by engaging any third parties, do not collect archaeological items plowed by agricultural machinery, do not acquire collections of archaeological origin, including but not limited to: ancient, Trypillian, Scythian, Sarmatian, Grand Duke times, Cossack times, I do not engage in the sale or resale of such items and collections.

3. DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION

Spreading information about actions harmful to exhibits is perhaps even more harmful to our heritage than physical damage, because physical damage harms just one particular exhibit, while a destructive example puts thousands of exhibits at risk (a stupid example is contagious).

3.1. I do not share photos and videos in the Internet and in the media in which harmful actions are committed against exhibits, for example, photo sessions or video content in which exhibits from the clothing category are dressed on people, I do not participate in and do not arrange “shows” and fashion shows in which exhibits from the clothing category are dressed on people, because this provokes the spread of personal use of exhibits, which ICOM Code of Museum Ethics (see p.2.26) prohibits, and thus exposes exhibits to wear, damage and destruction, I do not “decorate” interiors of domestic or commercial use with exhibits;

3.2. I do not proclaim or share in the Internet and in the media ideas and appeals that expose cultural heritage to wear, damage and destruction and contradict the requirements of museum regulations and standards. For example, under the guise of an "ethno-specialist", "ethno-professional", "ethnologist", "collector", "expert" I do not suggest that "not all exhibits are worth preserving and museums will not be able to accommodate all of tham", "exhibits that do not have museum/artistic/artistic value should not be protected at all". I do not pretend that my own ideas and understandings regarding the preservation of cultural heritage are as valid as the requirements of museum regulations and standards, instead I refer to the requirements of museum regulations and standards as the only acceptable guide for preservation proceedures.

4. USE OF CONTENT (PHOTO-REPRODUCTIONS)

Exhibits of traditional art are not subject to copyright under Ukrainian Laws (see Article 8), however, photo-reproductions of exhibits may be protected by copyright laws, and museums and private owners of exhibits may have their own terms and conditions for the use of their photo-reproductions. Preservation and digitization of collections of traditional art requires significant effort, time and money, and compliance with the rights to use digitized content allows rights holders not to fear that their content will be used illegally or without permission. Compliance with rights encourages more exhibits to be digitized. Any public and/or commercial use of photo-reproductions without the written permission of the author of these photo-reproductions is essentially theft.

4.1. I do not share in the Internet and in the media photo-reproductions of which I am not the author - each photo reproduction on the Internet is not "freely available", but has an author/owner, without the written permission of the author/owner, sharing these photo-reproductions (even in the social networks) is prohibited;

4.2. I do not use, without the written permission of the author/owner, photo-reproductions to create my own collages/embroidery pattern schemes/illustrations/replicas/photo-video projects/derivative works based on these photo-reproductions or their parts. For every public and/or commercial use of photo-reproductions, I apply for a written permission (at a separate fee if required) from the author/owner of the photo-reproductions, this applies to both the production of embroidery pattern schemes/replicas of the entire item, and the use of a fragment of ornament from the exhibit on any new product or in any work of art in any way;

4.3. I comply with the terms of use provided to me by the authors/owners of photo-reproductions - in particular, this applies to: time of use - I do not use the content longer than the permitted time, method - I do not use the content in a way not permitted by the author/owner, scale - I do not use the content for a greater number of distributions/printouts/replicas/derivative works than permitted by the author/owner of the content;

4.4. I do not use photo reproductions and any other content of the Site for AI training. Without in any way limiting the exclusive rights of the authors under copyright, any use of the Basic and Additional Content of the Site for training generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to create any content is prohibited. Content authors retain all rights to license the use of their content for generative AI training and the development of any machine learning models.

5. RESPONSIBILITY

Visitors, Users and Subscribers of the Site on their own, guided by their own conscience, assess whether their (past and current) actions comply with the Community Standards. The Site Operator is not obliged to investigate and monitor the extent of compliance with these Principles and Rules by each User.

5.1. To prevent infringement of rights to the Site content, all Site Users and subscribers shall indicate their real name when registering, and when signing a verification agreement through the “Vchazno” Service, they shall use their Electronic Digital Signature, for the same purpose their full name and TIN will be included in the watermark on the photo-reproductions they may download from the Site;

5.2. If there exist any suspicions or evidence of a violation of the Community Standards (at least one Principle or Rule)  - violators may be denied verification, and previously verified accounts may be deprived of the opportunity to purchase photo-reproductions on the Site, or the violators' accounts may be blocked - until all violations and their consequences are corrected.The reasons for the refusal/blocking of User accounts will be communicated to the violators whenever possible, however, the Site Operator has the right not to communicate them;

5.3. In case of violation of the Standards - you must stop committing violations and must correct all the adverse consequences of each violation, in particular but not limited to, in case of violation:

■ p.1.1. and 2.6. – start properly storing your collection, in the absence of such an opportunity - transfer/sell the collection to an institution/collector who can ensure proper storage;

■ p.1.2. – stop personally using exhibits/borrowing exhibits for personal use and remove from the Internet and the media all photo-video and other content on which I personally use exhibits, or my exhibits are personally used by anyone;

■ p.1.3. – stop any interference with exhibits and remove all previously made interference, order the services of professional restorers from the licensed restorers to correct the damage caused to the exhibits; 

■ p.1.4. – start to properly and under appropriate conditions storing information about exhibits in my collection, digitize exhibits and information about them and related to them. Also start to properly and under appropriate conditions store digitized exhibits and information about them and related to them;

■ p.2.1. – get rid of my own collection by transferring it to a museum;

■ p.2.2. and 2.5. – inform the former owners of the exhibit that I am not a museum employee, but a collector and therefore I will be able to sell the exhibit someday (additionally for 2.5. - pay the former owners of the exhibit the appropriate price), in case of impossibility to notify the owners (and pay the appropriate price) - transfer the exhibits acquired in such a manipulative or illegal way to a specialized museum;

■ p.2.3. – try to find out and record all available information about the exhibit (unfortunately, in most cases this will not be possible, so it is worth not violating this rule);

■ p.2.4. – correct the deliberately changed provenance, remove all fictitious and false details;

■ p.2.7. – register as an individual entrepreneur (or LLC) with the appropriate KVEDs, as provided for by the Rules for Trading in Antiques, pay tax arrears and fines for past sales without appropriate registrations in accordance with the Tax Legislation;

■ p.2.8. – stop searching, excavating, collecting, selling, reselling exhibits and collections of archaeological origin, transfer previously acquired exhibits and collections of archaeological origin to specialized museums or relevant state bodies;

■ p.3.1. and 3.2. – remove from the Internet and the media all your or shared by you photo-video and other content on which harmful actions are committed against exhibits or where ideas and calls are spread that expose cultural heritage to wear, damage and destruction and which contradict the requirements of museum regulations and standards;

■ p.4.1. – remove from the Internet and the media all previously shared photo-reproductions of which you are not the author;

■ p.4.2. and 4.4. – stop using photo-reproductions to create your own collages/embroidery schemes/illustrations/replicas/photo-video projects/derivative works based on these photo-reproductions or their parts. Notify the author/owner of the content about the previously committed violations of their rights and compensate them the damages caused by your violation of their rights in the amount determined by the author/owner. Remove from the Internet and the media all previously distributed your own content, which contains derivative works created by using other people's photo-reproductions without the permission of their author/owner (in the case of AI training - stop using the trained AI models without the written permission of the authors of the photo-reproductions, and compensate the authors for all losses caused by your unauthorised use of their content);

■ p.4.3. - Stop the infringement of rights, notify the author/owner of the content about the previously committed violations of the permissions granted by them and compensate them the full damages caused by your violations of their rights in the amount determined by the author/owner. Remove from the Internet and the media all previously distributed your own content, which contains any derivative works created by using photo-reproductions without the permission of the author/owner.

In case of non-correction or incomplete/partial correction of the committed violations by the User, the Site Operator reserves the right to refuse verification and refuse to unblock the blocked User accounts;

5.4. The liability for violations mentioned in these Standards in no way cancels, replaces or diminishes the liability of Users for violations of the above-mentioned and all other requirements of current regulatory, legislative and professional regulations and standards.

Under all circumstances, the Ukrainian version of these Community Standards prevails.

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This edition of Community Standards is effective from 20 April 2025