Britain's artists suffer EU regulation

Why rule of 'droit de suite' has a sour taste for some

By Samson

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These sharp words were uttered by Chris Bryant, a British MP, during the discussion of a new law by which a living artists or their heirs for 70 yearsafter their death will receive a cut of about 3 per cent whenever a piece issold.

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Some commentators argue that this gives poor artists a slice of futuresuccess. Others believe it threatens to cripple the market. The law is causingconflict throughout Europe, especially in Britain, where the Patent Office iscurrently deciding how to implement it.

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The levy, called "droit de suite" or "artist's resale right", was initiated in1920s France to help impoverished artists and their heirs.

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In 2006 it is due tobe introduced across the European Union in order to stop vendors from avoidingthe levy by moving sales away from France, Germany and four other Europeancountries in which the law now applies.

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But will the levy will improve the financial security of artists ?

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In countries where the levy was applied in 2003, only 11 percent went to living artists while heirs scooped the rest. Moreover, it is a tinyhandful of successful artists that receives most.

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Artists who are poor because their work sells cheaply receive a pittance at best. Many dealers and auctioneers are furious at the introduction of the levy, notonly because they will lose 3 per cent of their earnings and pay for administration but also because they fear that trade that now passes to EUnations without the levy will move away to America and Switzerland.

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The directive was passed in the hope that these countries would adopt the levy butthey did not. A British government report predicts job losses.

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Alan Cristea, a London dealer, says: "In principle, [the levy] is an apparent benefit. In practice, it is destructive." He believes London's Frieze art fairwill lose out to fairs such as Art Basel, the world's biggest for contemporaryart.

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Walter Feilchenfeldt, the president of the Swiss Art Dealers' Association, admits that levy-free countries will probably benefit: "It will make adifference in Switzerland," he says, "but even more in America."