ARTISTS' RESALE RIGHTS
(18976)
6992/98
COM(98)78
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Amended draft Directive on the resale right for the benefit of the author of an original work of art.
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Legal base:
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Article 100a; co-decision; qualified majority voting
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| Department:
| Trade and Industry
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| Basis of consideration:
| Letter from Commissioner Monti of 10 December 1998
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| Previous consideration:
| HC 155-xxxii (1997-98), paragraph 2 (1 July 1998)
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| Committee's assessment:
| Politically important |
| Committee's decision:
| Not cleared. Further information requested.
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Background
3.1 The proposal would provide an artist
and his heirs for 70 years after his death, with a right, known
as droit de suite, to receive a royalty whenever one of
his "original"[4]
works is resold in the Community.
3.2 When we last considered this proposal
on 1 July 1998, we asked the Minister of State at the Department
of Trade and Industry, Mr McCartney, to obtain from the Commission
the "several comprehensive studies" covering the economic
consequences of the proposal, which Commissioner Monti said that
the Commission had undertaken, instead of a fiche d'impact.
3.3 We also wrote, on 15 July, to Commissioner
Monti, asking him to provide copies of the studies. We wrote to
him again on 20 October, having received no acknowledgment of
our earlier letter.
The Commissioner's reply
3.4 The Commissioner does not provide copies
of the studies but informs us that, at the request of the UK
delegation[5], the
Commission representative on the Council Working Party on intellectual
property made a list available to delegations on 20 November 1998.
This summarised "various studies" which were taken into
account in the preparation of the draft Directive.
3.5 Not only does the Commissioner regret
that the draft Directive is now "entirely in the hands of
the Council of Ministers", but he adds:
"I regret to have to
inform you that a majority of Council delegations seem to have
taken the view that fluctuations in the exchange rate of major
currencies will have a much more distorting effect on the art
market than any introduction in the United Kingdom of a moderate
rate of resale right."
3.6 In conclusion, the Commissioner says:
"I remain, however,
convinced that the forthcoming Common Position of the Council
will allay many of the fears expressed by the British art trade
and support a healthy development of the market in 20th century
art throughout the Community."
The Government's reply
3.7 The Minister has not yet replied to
our request for copies of the economic studies, but the Department
has provided us with an informal copy of the list supplied by
the Commission. We shall place this and a copy of the Commissioner's
letter in the Library.
3.8 We understand that the Presidency hopes
that the Council Working Party which meets on 13 January will
agree a text, with a view to COREPER considering a consolidated
text on which a Common Position can be agreed by the Internal
Market Council on 25 February.
Conclusion
3.9 We ask the Government to inform us
of the outcome of the Working Party meeting on 13 January, and
to comment on the list and the adequacy of the evaluation carried
out by the Commission, as described by the Commissioner, a copy
of whose letter we shall forward to Mr McCartney. Meanwhile,
we do not clear the document.
LIST OF STUDIES
UNDERTAKEN IN THE FIELD OF DROIT DE SUITE
A number of studies commissioned by the private sector,
dealing with the economic impact of droit de suite on the art
market in general, as well as a number of other relevant documents
on the subject, are listed below in chronological order. Furthermore,
the Commission has also put forward, together with the original
proposal for the directive on droit de suite, an explanatory memorandum
encompassing 22 pages.
1. Droit de suite:
The Artist's Resale Royalty, A Report of the Register of Copyrights,
The Library of Congress, 1992.
2. The UK Market, in: Art Market Bulletin,
Art Sales Index Ltd., by Gleadell, C., Weybridge, November 1993.
3. The Netherlands Art Auction Market, in:
Art Market Bulletin, Art Sales Index Ltd., by van Nispen, M.,
Weybridge, November 1993.
4. The German Art Auction Market, in: Art
Market Bulletin, Art Sales Index, Weybridge, November 1993.
5. The droit de suite, Report commissioned
by the French authors' society ADAGP, the German authors' society
BILD-KUNST, and the Groupement Européen des Sociétés
d'Auteurs et Compositeurs (GESAC), by Marlies Hummel, ifo Institute
for Economic Research, Munich 1994.
6. The droit de suite, ifo, Munich 1995.
7. Le droit et l'objet d'art: le droit de
suite des artistes plasticiens dans l'Union Européenne,
Analyse juridique, Approche économique, by Carine Doutrelepont,
Bruylant L.G.D.J., Brussels 1996.
8. Les Documents d'Information de l'Assemblée
Nationale, Rapport d'Information sur le droit de suite dans l'Union
européenne: harmoniser sans entraver le marché de
l'art, by Nicole Ameline, 1997.
9. The British Art Market 1997, A Study
of the Value of the Art and Antique Market in Britain and the
Implications of EU Harmonisation of Import VAT and Artist Resale
Rights, prepared for the British Art Market Federation by Market
Tracking International Ltd., 1997.
10 Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication,
Les Conditions du développement du marché de l'art
en France, analyses et propositions, Second Rapport, 1998.
11. The Danish Resale Right, Ministry of Culture,
Copenhagen, 1998.
4 The definition of "original" work is discussed
in paragraph 4.3 of our Report of 29 April 1998: HC 155-xxvi (1997-98). Back
5 Our
emphasis. Back
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