Artist’s resale right (droit de suite)

The resale right is the right of the author of an original graphic or plastic work to receive a percentage of the price of any resale of that work involving an art market professional. It is laid down in Article L. 122-8 of the French Intellectual Property Code, which transposes Directive 2001/84/EC. It compensates for the fact that visual artists cannot profit from the reproduction of their works as writers or composers do, and allows them to share in the increase in value of the work.

Conditions of application

The resale right benefits authors who are nationals of a Member State of the European Union or of the European Economic Area and, on a reciprocal basis, nationals of third countries whose legislation grants the resale right to European authors. It covers original graphic or plastic works, that is, works created by the artist personally and copies made in limited numbers by the artist or under his or her authority, such as numbered casts of sculptures, prints or photographic works. It applies to any sale taking place after the first transfer by the author or his or her successors in title, where an art market professional is involved as seller, buyer or intermediary. Sales between private individuals, without a professional intermediary, fall outside it. The statute also excludes resales by a seller who acquired the work directly from the author less than three years earlier where the price does not exceed EUR 10,000.

Calculation and payment

The royalty is due only from a sale price of EUR 750. Its rate decreases by bands, from 4% for the portion of the price up to EUR 50,000 down to 0.25% above EUR 500,000, and the total amount may not exceed EUR 12,500 per sale. It is payable by the seller, but the professional involved in the sale is liable for its payment, and the Court of Justice accepts that the parties may agree contractually that the buyer is to bear the final cost. Collection is in practice carried out by collective management organisations to which professionals report sales.

Nature and term of the right

The resale right is an inalienable economic right: the author can neither assign it nor waive it in advance, which distinguishes it from the other economic rights. It passes only to the author’s heirs and, as regards usufruct, to the surviving spouse, to the exclusion of legatees, in accordance with Article L. 123-7 IPC. Like the other economic rights, it lasts for the calendar year of the author’s death and the following seventy years, after which the work falls into the public domain and resales are free of any levy.

Key points

Every resale of an original work of art through a professional, above EUR 750, entitles the artist or the artist’s heirs to a decreasing percentage of the price, capped at EUR 12,500, for seventy years after the author’s death. The right cannot be assigned. Galleries, auction houses and dealers must report sales, and artists should check that the sums are actually paid over to them.

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This glossary entry is general in scope and does not constitute legal advice.

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