UK Implementing "Droit de Suite" Resale Royalty Rights

The UK Patent Office has launched a consultation on the details of implementation for European Directive 2001/84/EC, requiring the UK to introduce into UK law a resale right for artists. The Directive came into force on 13 October 2001 and requires the new right (sometimes called 'droit de suite') to be introduced into the UK by 1 January 2006. The right will entitle authors and their successors in title to a percentage of the sale price, net of tax, whenever original works of art, in which copyright subsists, are re-sold in transactions involving art market professionals.

The introduction of a resale right in the UK has been a controversial issue and the negotiations leading up the adoption of the Directive were lengthy. The draft Regulations in Annex A (PDF file 88Kb) are consistent with the approach taken by the UK during the negotiations. The UK has the largest art market within the European Union and it has always been the Government’s position that risk of sales being diverted from the UK must be minimised. For example, resale royalty rights are limited in the U.S. by the "first sale doctrine."