Resale rights come under attack from art dealers

Date: 06/02/1997

By Simon Coss

ART dealers are calling on MEPs to throw out a controversial plan on so-called 'resale rights' which they claim would decimate the Union's fine art market.

The proposal drawn up by the European Commission calls for the harmonisation of resale rights - under which artists are guaranteed a percentage of all future sales of their work - across the EU.

The situation currently varies widely from member state to member state. In the UK, for example, there are no such rights, while in France and Germany such laws are regularly enforced and in Italy rules exist but are generally ignored.

The Commission says this contravenes internal market rules, pointing out that a British artist such as David Hockney would benefit if one of his paintings was sold in Paris, while the estate of Spain's Pablo Picasso would receive nothing if his paintings were auctioned in London.

But art dealers claim a harmonised EU-wide resale right would simply drive the fine art market abroad, principally to the US, Switzerland or the Far East.

“You cannot treat Europe as if it were isolated in the world. If this directive is introduced, we will quite simply lose the international art market,” said Anthony Browne, a director of leading auction house Christie's and chairman of the British Art Market Federation.

Browne, who recently gave evidence to the Parliament's legal affairs committee, told MEPs that not only would the proposed directive destroy the art market but it would also bring little real benefit to the people it was supposed to help, namely Europe's artists.

“Resale rights overwhelmingly benefit the handful of successful artists who are doing well anyway. They really hold very little advantage for the vast majority of new artists,” he said.

Artists' organisations vehemently disagree with the industry view, however, claiming artists have a perfect right to benefit from the sale of their work.

“The art market itself is by far the biggest beneficiary of the sale of art works. Artists themselves really do not make that much money. If you look at the profit the dealers make, could they not spare a bit for the artists?” said Janet Ibbotson of the Design and Artists Copyright Society.

Spanish Christian Democrat MEP Ana Palacio, the parliamentary rapporteur on the proposal, also disagrees with Browne's analysis. “There is a need for legislation here because the current set-up causes problems in the internal market. In addition it is important to recognise that artistic invention benefits society,” she said.

The Commission's proposal suggests a sliding scale for resale rights, with the percentage going to the artist falling as the price rises. For works sold for between 1,000 and 50,000 ecu, the resale right would be 4&percent; of sale price; for those between 50,000 and 250,000 ecu, 3&percent;, and on pieces fetching more than 250,000 ecu, 2&percent;.