Self-reporting: unpermitted excavation of a Santa Claus figurine in Vienna, 13th district, Streitmanngasse 14 (2013).
To demonstrate that § 11 (1) Austrian Monuments Protection Law (DMSG) could not be applied in the way the Austrian National Heritage Agency (BDA) has argued consistently for decades, I conducted an unpermitted excavation in the front garden of my parents' house in Vienna for a bust of Santa Claus (acquired for this purpose in Bangor) buried there in my absence by my wife. This turned the bust into an 'archaeological monument' according to the provisions of § 8 (1) DMSG, which the BDA must not be excavated without a permit issued by it according to § 11 (1) DMSG. I reported myself for this 'illegal' excavation to the prosecuting authorities to get a judgement on the question, which was passed on 11/3/2014 in my favour. It was found in this judgement that I had not committed an illegal act by conducting this unpermitted excavation because the provisions of § 11 (1) DMSG did not apply to it. The BDA later claimed it had not been aware of this case and thus could not respond, as is a requirement unter § 37 (6) DMSG. This, however, cannot be, because the prosecuting authority had on record that it sent a request to the BDA to submit a statement on the case; leaving aside that I had copied the BDA into the CC of my original self-report to the prosecuting authority. All relevant records of the case are attached to this entry.