DOI Announces Final Rule for Implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

These regulations provide systematic processes for returning Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony to lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHOs). The revised regulations streamline requirements for museums and federal agencies to inventory and identify Native American human remains and cultural items in their collections.  

Enacted in 1990, NAGPRA, which is administered by the National Park Service, requires museums and federal agencies to identify Native American human remains, funerary items, and objects of cultural significance in their collections and collaborate with Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to repatriate them.  

In October 2022, the Interior Department published a proposed rule for public comment and received 181 individual submissions that yielded over 1,800 specific comments. The final regulations incorporate input from all comments, especially those from Tribes and NHOs to the maximum extent possible.  

The final rule makes a number of changes, including:  

• Strengthening the authority and role of Tribes and NHOs in the repatriation process by requiring deference to the Indigenous Knowledge of lineal descendants, Tribes and NHOs.  
• Requiring museums and federal agencies to obtain free, prior and informed consent from lineal descendants, Tribes or NHOs before allowing any exhibition of, access to, or research on human remains or cultural items.   
• Eliminating the category “culturally unidentifiable human remains” and resetting the requirements for cultural affiliation to better align the regulations with congressional intent.  
  Increasing transparency and reporting of holdings or collections and shedding light on collections currently unreported under the existing regulation.   
• Requiring museums and federal agencies to consult and update inventories of human remains and associated funerary objects within five years of this final rule.   

Secretary Haaland made the announcements in remarks at the 2023 White House Tribal Nations Summit, which provides an opportunity for the Biden-Harris administration and Tribal leaders from the 574 federally recognized Tribes to discuss ways the federal government can invest in and strengthen nation-to-nation relationships as well as ensure that progress in Indian Country endures for years to come.