Brussels, 17/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - What is the best way of organising the way in which the rights from a work of art are collected once it has been sold? Galleries, artists and organisations responsible for the collective management of these rights have managed to reach an agreement on a range of commitments on collective management of resale rights. On Monday 17 February, stakeholders presented a number of key principles and recommendations on this subject to European Commissioner for Internal Market Michel Barnier.
It is on the basis of the structured dialogue during 2013 between artistic and copyright representatives that such a document was able to be drawn up and signed by around 20 different groups and companies, including fine art auctioneers, such as Christie's and Sotheby's. The commissioner said that, in facilitating this dialogue, the Commission played a key role in bringing together sector stakeholders in an effort to locate solutions acceptable to all the different parties. The commissioner was pleased that this resulted in “a contract rather than a legal restraint”. Recommendations focus, above all, on transparency in the management of resale rights by collective rights management organisations but also by gallery owners, sales rooms, auctioneers and other agents selling works of art. Moreover, emphasis was also put on the information provided to the entire artistic community regarding resale rights (internet websites, workshops, frequently asked questions etc.). Trade associations and organisations responsible for the collective management of resale rights are also committed to ensuring that legislation on the subject is appropriately applied. The different stakeholders also highlighted the ripple through effect from resale rights with certain trade legislation obliging sellers to pay resale rights, and others the purchaser, when a work of art was resold. During cross-border deals for the same piece of work, the agent involved is therefore sometimes obliged to pay twice as much for the resale right. Those working in the sector are therefore calling on the Commission to examine the question during the 2015 assessment on the resale rights directive (2001/84/EC). (MD/transl.fl)