Spain to Apply Resale Rights

According to EL PAÍS, Spain’s Minister of Culture announced today that pending approved modification to their intellectual property laws, Spanish artists may yet acquire what is known in France as droit de suite or, resale rights. Approved by the European Parliament in September 2001, resale rights have already been in effect in other European countries but with inconsistent results. EL PAÍS reports that Spain is trying to comply with this European resale right which applies to diverse artistic media such as painting, collage, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, tapestries, ceramics, crystal, photography, and video art. The resale right fee would apply to any real person or legal entity who habitually sells art within the art market, such as galleries, auction houses, and agents. The applicable resale fee would vary depending on the resale price: a minimum .25% would be charged when the first resale price surpasses 500,000 euros, and a maximum 4% when the first resale price surpasses 50,000 euros. The maximum fee assessed would be 12,500 euros, and the applicable fee would always be paid by the buyer.

Bellas Artes Director José Giménez explained that payment of these fees could be difficult due to the fact that many artists are not registered with VEGAP (Visual Entidad de Gestión de Artistas Plásticos), the only entity currently managing artists’ rights. This factor, along with the difficulty in administrating and tracking each resale of an art work seem to be the biggest obstacles. However, young Spanish artists, many of whom make little profit from first sales, are excited to see a possibility that they will finally reap the rewards to be had from extravagant resale prices. Thanks to EL PAÍS for this story, and we’ll keep you posted on the outcome.