After years of foot-dragging, Japan is taking its first significant step toward shedding its reputation as a looter of cultural assets.

According to sources, the government will submit to the Diet an international treaty banning illicit traffic in statues, paintings, manuscripts, books and other objects of historical or archaeological value, with hopes that the Diet will ratify the pact during the 150-day ordinary session convening late next month.

After getting the treaty ratified, Japan will formally join the treaty, the sources said, adding that the treaty's ratification is almost certain.

The UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, as the treaty is formally called, was adopted in 1970 to protect cultural assets against theft, illicit export and wrongful alienation. It took effect in 1972.

According to UNESCO (U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), there were 91 treaty members as of the end of 1999. UNESCO is the Paris-based body affiliated with the United Nations.

The current UNESCO director general is Koichiro Matsuura, a former Japanese ambassador to France, who was elected to the post in late 1999. It was only shortly before the election that the Japanese government began full-scale consideration of domestic legislative and regulatory amendments necessary to join the 1970 treaty.

At present, Japan is among only a few industrialized countries that have yet to join the treaty. Britain, another notorious global center of illicit trade in cultural assets, is also not a treaty member, according to government officials and private-sector experts.

It is widely believed that many precious cultural assets stolen from troubled countries -- including Afghanistan and Iraq -- are being traded illegally in Japan.

Even Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda has acknowledged the problem. On his Internet home page, Fukuda stresses the need for Japan to join the 1970 treaty as soon as possible, although he does not say when Japan will actually do so.

Member countries of the so-called UNESCO Convention are obliged to return cultural inventoried properties that have been stolen from museums or similar institutions.

They are also obliged to take domestic measures:

To control the acquisition and illicit trading of cultural objects by individuals and institutions.

To cooperate with other countries facing difficulties in protecting their heritage by applying import controls that are based on the export controls in the affected countries.

To take steps to educate the domestic population.

To be sure, Japan's ratification of the UNESCO Convention would be significant, but the country would still face a long road before successfully cleansing its image as a safe haven for cultural traders.

There are two other international treaties concerning the protection of cultural assets that Japan also has not joined -- the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.

The 1954 treaty, or the Hague Convention as it is more commonly known, was adopted in The Hague in the wake of massive destruction of the cultural heritage during World War II. It requires member countries to safeguard and respect cultural property even during armed conflict.

The UNIDROIT Convention was adopted to complement the 1970 UNESCO Convention by providing minimal rules of uniform law. UNESCO has urged all members to join both the UNESCO Convention and the UNIDROIT Convention.