droit de suite

The European Council agreed to the controversial proposal for droit de suite (artists' resale right) legislation at its meeting on Wednesday, 15 March. But the directive will not come into force until the end of a fifteen year transitional period.

The purpose of the legislation, like much other EC legislation, is to create a single market among the fifteen Member States (plus the three countries that, with the EC, make up the European Economic Area). Introducing lengthy transition periods undermines this goal, and the European Commission has been quick to criticise its political masters for the concession. "If you start introducing fifteen-year transitional periods for single market legislation, you are opening a Pandora's box and will never achieve a fully-functioning single market", according to a Commission spokesman.

The directive provides for artists and sculptors to receive a royalty of up to 4 per cent on the resale of their works for the regular copyright term of seventy years after the creator's death. The UK has opposed it on the grounds that it will lead to a flight of auction business to New York and Switzerland, and previously had threatened to invoke the vital national interest rule to enable it to block the proposal which at that time provided for a five year transition. However, the legislation was passed by a majority of the Member States, with two countries abstaining. The proposal now goes back to the European Parliament for a second reading.

Peter Groves
Davis & Co (Solicitors) Limited
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