The reform of the artist’ resale right in the Principality of Monaco

The Artist’s Resale Right entitles authors of original works of plastic and graphic art to a royalty each time one of their works is resold.

The ARR in Monaco is currently regulated under article 11 of Law n°491 of 24 November 1948, which guarantees authors of graphic or plastic works a royalty of 3% of the price of any resale, on the condition that the resale takes place in the form of an auction carried out on Monegasque territory.

Bill n°1044, handed to the commission de la Culture et du Patrimoine (the Culture and Heritage Committee) of the National Council on 14 September 2021 aims to reform the regime applicable to the resale right.

It extends the scope of the works concerned in order to include works, created by artists themselves or under their responsibility in limited quantities, such as bronze art, signed photographs or original manuscripts of writers and composers.

However, the bill does not specify if graphic or plastic art in digital format is covered by the Resale Right. Nothing seems to exclude it, since the text does not subject the right to a specific form of art. Moreover, non-fungible tokens (NFT) are likely to guarantee the application of the Resale Right since they ensure the identification and authenticity of the digital work they are associated to.

The bill grants the seller, who is object to the payment obligation, an exemption if they acquired the work directly from the author and the period between the initial acquisition and the resale does not exceed three years.

Works sold for a price lower than the amount which will be determined by Sovereign Ordinance are also exempt from resale right.

Another interesting change is that the amount of the Resale Right, currently fixed at 3% "of the sale price" by Article 11 of Law n°491 of 24 November 1948, will be defined by Sovereign Ordinance and a degressive rate will probably be adopted in line with regulations applicable in most European countries.

In addition, in order to align with European law, the duration of post-mortem protection will be extended from fifty to seventy years.

In conclusion, the Bill 1044, as well as the Bill 1045 on the recognition and ownership of intellectual works, is part of a global reform aiming to provide greater protection for authors.