By Rex Urmas Rattur
On
the 9th of June 2010 a new law was introduced in Australia, which
established a resale royalty scheme for visual artists. Visual artists
can now receive a 5% royalty on the sale price of commercial ‘resales’
of their work.
It
means visual artists will be able to share in the commercialisation of
their work in the secondary art market just as writers and composers do.
(It is worth pointing out at this stage that the royalty does not apply
to private sales between individuals where there is no art market
intermediary.)
The
‘resale royalty scheme’ means that if your works are sold in the
future, then by law you must be paid 5% of the sale price. Since the
threshold for the law to operate is over $1,000, it means that you will
be paid more than $50 per sale if a work is sold for more than $1,000.
The
second criterion for the law to operate is that you must be an
Australian citizen or permanent resident. The scheme applies to
Australian artists during their lifetime, and for the next 70 years
after the artist’s death.
And
finally the right to receive ‘resale royalties’ is inalienable; it
cannot be given away, transferred or waived. It is retained by the
artist or the beneficiary of the artist’s estate, if the beneficiary is
Australian.
The
Australian government has chosen the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) to
manage and administer the scheme because of its track record and on the
basis of its view that it is important to recognize the principle that
artists get a fair return for the artworks which they create.
Artists
have been defined as visual artists, including painters, sculptors,
printmakers, craft workers, installation and media artists, and
photographers who produce limited edition prints. If you have any
uncertainty about whether you are included in the category, it is
recommended that you contact CAL, who will be delighted to assist in
relation to the scheme.
The
Estonian community in Australia has seen the emergence and growth of
many visual artists – painters, printmakers, graphic artists, sculptors,
bookbinders, fine art jewellers (silver and goldsmiths), and craft
workers who have produced amazing tapestries and woven works. Mass
produced works are excluded from the scheme. Categories of artworks are
listed on the CAL website in more detail.
I
recently met Tiiu Reisaar, an Estonian artist living in Australia,
whose works grace many homes in both Australia and overseas. She told me
that many of her paintings had been sold to Estonians in the UK,
Germany, Sweden and many other countries in Europe which have Estonian
communities.
It
is important to note that the ‘resale royalty scheme’ will soon apply
overseas in some countries which also have resale royalty schemes such
as the UK, France and Germany. CAL will be seeking to establish
reciprocal arrangements with them for the collection of resale royalties
for Australian works, which CAL can pay to the artists.
Artists
are invited to register with CAL. Registration is free. It is simple
and easy. It enables the payment of royalties to artists from vendors,
art market professionals, auction houses and galleries, who are obliged
by law to provide CAL with information to enable CAL to identify the
artworks and artists.
If
you require more information on the artists’ resale royalty scheme, you
can contact CAL either online www.resaleroyalty.org.au, or by phone 1
800 066 844 or 02 9394 7600.
If
there is widespread interest in this subject we may be able to arrange
for a seminar at Estonian House, where CAL could respond to specific
enquiries from individuals in more detail.
A
few nights ago I went to a seminar on the Resale Royalty Scheme, where
many of the audience members were practising artists. The presentation
was short and succinct. All queries were answered precisely and
informatively. No one was ignored.
My
own interest in the seminar however was from a national perspective, on
how to preserve the Estonian national memory. Artworks created over the
last fifty or sixty years reflect the experience and feelings of a
generation, a generation of Estonians in Australia.
CAL
offers a way to catalogue the works of Estonian artists. They will add
pictures of artworks to their register. Due to the rigour that CAL
applies to privacy rules, for which CAL has been commended, access to
the CAL register is only available to individuals or their beneficiaries
who register their artworks.
By
sending a digital picture/pictures of an artwork, details of when it
was bought or sold, and by whom, as well as a short description or any
other details about the artist or the theme of the work to our newspaper
MEIE KODU or to our website Estonians in Australia you could help to
set up a catalogue to establish a cultural resource, as well as a
commercial one, to recognise Estonian artists in Australia.
30 July 2010
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