Please refer to our list of Frequently Asked Questions and answers. These derive from repeated enquiries from artists and art market professionals. We hope they will clarify anything that has not been already stated on our website. If not, please contact us.
| Q: What is Artists' Resale Right (Droit de Suite)? |
| A: Artist’s Resale Right provides artists with a royalty payment every time a work of art is re sold by an art market professional for a price which exceeds €1,000 or £680. |
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| Q: What is ACS? |
| A: Artists’ Collecting Society (ACS) was formally established as a collecting society in June 2006 to collect Artist’s Resale Right (Droit de Suite) on behalf of member artists in the UK and overseas. |
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| Q: What happens if my work is resold abroad? |
| A: ACS is making provisions with collecting societies throughout the EEA and wherever Artist’s Resale Right applies, to collect Artist’s Resale Right on your work if it is resold outside of the UK. |
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| Q: How do I join ACS? |
| A: All you need to do is complete a registration form. Click here to register with ACS. Alternatively call us on 0845 11 22 400 or email us at info@artistscollectingsociety.org.uk for more information. |
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| Q: Is there any joining fee? |
| A: No. ACS does not make any charge to artists who wish to mandate us to collect on their behalf. |
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| Q: What do ACS charge? |
| A: ACS retains 15% of the artist's royalty to cover our administration costs. This means that 85% of the royalty is paid straight back to the artist. |
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| Q: What happens if my work is resold privately? |
| A: Works of art which are sold between two private individuals who are not professional art traders or agents are not eligible for Artist’s Resale Right. |
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| Q: Who pays the Artist’s Resale Right? |
| A: The person who resells your work is responsible for the payment of Artist’s Resale Right. This means, the dealer, agent or any other professional art trader who sells your work, subsequent to the first transfer of ownership from yourself, will be billed for the royalty. |
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| Q: How much do I get? |
A: The royalty payment due to you is calculated as a percentage of the resale price as follows:
| From 1,000 to 50,000 |
4.00% |
| From 50,000.01 to 200,000 |
3.00% |
| From 200,000.01 to 350,000 |
1.00% |
| From 350,000.01 to 500,000 |
0.50% |
| Over 500,000 |
0.25% |
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| Q: What happens if I disagree with the Artist’s Resale Right? |
| A: Many artists have voiced concern over the introduction of Artist’s Resale Right, however, the UK government passed the statutory instrument enforcing Artist’s Resale Right on February 14th, 2006. Because the UK Regulations state that Artist’s Resale Right must be managed by a designated collecting society, Artist’s Resale Right will be collected by a society on your behalf. We ask that you consider which collecting society you would like to mandate. At present you can choose either ACS or the Design and Artists Copyright Society. |
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| Q: Can I assign my Artist’s Resale Right to someone else? |
| A: No. The royalty can only be paid to you as the artist of the work which has been resold. However, once you receive the royalty payment, you can do whatever you like with it. |
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| Q: What happens if a work of art is sold privately? |
| A: Works of art which are sold by a private individual to a private individual are exempt from Artist’s Resale Right. |
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| Q: How often will ACS request information on sales from me? |
| A: ACS will request sales information from you on a quarterly basis. |
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| Q: When do I have to pay the Artist’s Resale Right? |
| A: ACS will invoice you for Artist’s Resale Right on any eligible sales you have made on a quarterly basis. |
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| Q: What happens if I do nothing? |
| A: As stated above, because the UK Regulations state that Artist’s Resale Right must be managed by a designated collecting society, Artist’s Resale Right will be collected by the Design and Artists’ Copyright Society on your behalf, whether you actively mandate them or not. That is unless you choose to mandate an alternative collecting society such as ACS. If you do nothing, the Design and Artists Copyright Society will hold onto your money until they receive information upon your whereabouts and how you would like to be paid. We ask that you consider which collecting society you would like to nominate for the administration of your Artist’s Resale Right. |
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| Q: How does it work? |
| A: Once you register with ACS we will monitor all sales of your work all over the world. We will record those sales and invoice the art seller for Artist’s Resale Right. This royalty will then be passed back to you, less 15% to cover our administration costs. |
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| Q: What can I do if I have already registered with another collecting society? |
| A: If you have already registered with another collecting society for the collection of Artist’s Resale Right, you are at liberty to change your mind. Check the terms of your agreement but most agreements will require a three-month notice period to terminate. If you have registered with another collecting society for the collection of your copyright or any other rights, it may be possible that you can register with ACS for the management of your Artist’s Resale Right at the same time. |
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| Q: How does ACS find out about the resale of my work? |
| A: Our experienced, trained professionals are trawling through the internet and auction sales catalogues to track the sales of member artists' work. In addition to this, ACS has established solid relationships with many dealers and representative societies such as The Society of London of Art Dealers and The British Art Market Federation, who are both committed to aiding us in our ongoing work to monitor the sales of our members' work. |
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| Q: What happens if my work is resold on the internet? |
| A: Artist’s Resale Right will still apply if a professional art trader uses an internet-based service or an internet platform to sell your work as long as your work qualifies under the other criteria. |
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| Q: When will I receive any money? |
| A: We are invoicing professional art traders on a quarterly basis for your Artist’s Resale Right. Once we receive payment from the art trader, we will distribute your royalty payments as quickly as possible. |
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| Q: Why can’t I receive my royalty from my dealer? |
| A: The UK Regulations stipulate that Artist’s Resale Right must be managed by a collecting society. This means that the royalty must be collected by a collecting society before it is paid to you. |
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| Q: Which works of art are eligible for Artist’s Resale Right? |
| A: Any work of art by an artist who is a national of an ARR qualifying country (all of the EEA and some other countries – see list) when it is resold. Any work of art resold for over €1,000 or £680. Any work of graphic or plastic art which is in copyright where the artist is still alive. The UK Regulations list eligible works as a “picture, collage, painting, sculpture, tapestry, ceramic, glassware, photograph”. Limited editions of prints or works authored by the artist also qualify but it is unlikely that furniture or jewellery will qualify. However, please check with us if you are unsure. |
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| Q: Why should I choose ACS? |
| A: ACS has been established as a reaction to a specific request by a number of artists for the presence of an alternative collecting society. Unlike other collecting societies, ACS has been established solely for the collection of Artist’s Resale Right. This means ACS is 100% dedicated to administering the most time and cost efficient collection and distribution procedures of the right to our member artists. Because ACS has been established as a not-for-profit ‘Community Interest Company’, our management of your royalty payments is monitored by the Department of Trade and Industry to ensure that we conduct our procedures in your best interests. We promise to distribute your royalty payments as quickly as possible. Due to our sponsors The Bridgeman Art Library, the fine arts reprographic service, ACS is able to offer you a full copyright collection service through its sponsor, The Bridgeman Art Library which includes the promotion of your works all over the world. |
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| Q: Why do you need to know my nationality? |
| A: Artist’s Resale Right is not yet an international law. It has been introduced throughout the EEA and in a number of other countries. If an artist is a national of an ARR qualifying country then he/she is eligible for Artist’s Resale Right. |
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| Q: What happens when I die? |
| A: At present Artist’s Resale Right is not applicable after your death. However, you can make provision in your Will to assign the right to your heir or a charity and this might be advisable in view of possible subsequent legislation for the extension of Artist’s Resale Right to the full copyright term of 70 years after death. |
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| Q: What do I have to do? |
| A: The UK Regulations declare that professional art traders must provide information regarding the sale of art works to aid us in calculating the amount of Artist’s Resale Right due and in distributing the royalty to artists. This information should be returned to us within a time frame of 90 days from the date of receipt of such a request. |
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| Q: What happens if I resell a work of art abroad? |
| A: If the work of art is sold in a territory where Artist’s Resale Right is enforced, the work will be eligible for Artist’s Resale Right. However, if the work if art is sold in a country which does not enforce ARR, be advised not to automatically assume that ARR is not applicable. It is advisable to check with us first. |
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| Q: Do I have to report sales to both ACS and DACS? |
| A: If the some of the artists of the works you have resold are represented by DACS and others by ACS then you will need to report sales to the relevant collecting society. ACS is able to inform you which exactly which artists we represent since our membership list is finite. You will be able to see from our website which artists are members of ACS and report the sales information thereafter. |
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| Q: What information about my sales is passed on to artists? |
| A: Artists will receive a statement which includes the calculation of their royalty payment. This will include the date of sale, the sale price and our calculations to distribute the royalty. |
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| Q: What information is required by ACS about my sales and why? |
| A: ACS requires the following information to identify the artist, their eligibility for ARR, to identify their work, and to calculate the amount of ARR due to the artist: artist’s name, artist’s nationality, title of work, date of work, medium, date of sale, sale price and whether or not it was bought as stock. |
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| Q: Some of the artists I work with don’t agree with Artist’s Resale Right. What should I tell them? |
| A: Many artists have voiced concern over the introduction of Artist’s Resale Right, however, the UK government passed the Statutory Instrument enforcing Artist’s Resale Right on February 14th, 2006. Because the UK Regulations state that Artist’s Resale Right must be managed by a designated collecting society, Artist’s Resale Right will be collected by a society on behalf of an artist. We ask that you alert any artists you work with to this point and encourage them to choose which collecting society they would like to mandate. Once the royalty is passed back to an artist, he/she can do with it as he/she pleases. |
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| Q: How can I minimise the work involved in reporting resales? |
| A: You can use our website to find out whether the artist you are reporting a sale for is represented by ACS. You can use our online reporting facility to complete a form which provides us with the necessary sales information. You can also send us an email or post us a sales catalogue to report sales. |
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| Q: Which countries have ARR? |
| A: Please click here for a PDF download of all participating countries |
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