The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was enacted on November 16, 1990, to address the rights of lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations to Native American cultural items, including human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. The Act assigned implementation responsibilities to the Secretary of the Interior, and staff support is provided by the National NAGPRA Program. The National NAGPRA Program is administered by the National Park Service, a bureau of the Department of the Interior. 

The National Park Service has compliance obligations for parks, separate from the National NAGPRA Program. National NAGPRA is the nationwide program, the constituent groups of which are all Federal agencies, museums that receive Federal funds, Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, and the public.