Law Commons^™

The Costs And Legal Implications Facing Implementation Of The European Union's Droit De Suite Directive In The United Kingdom, Jennifer B. Pfeffer

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

In 2001, the European Union passed a directive requiring member countries to implement a droit de suite on the resale of art. A droit de suite is a resale royalty created to benefit visual artists. The purpose of the droit de suite is to allow artists to profit off of their growing reputations; for example, a starving artist who has sold a work for a pittance may profit (or his heirs may profit) when he has risen in prominence and his work has consequently increased in value. The United Kingdom actively opposed the directive;8 it worried about the effect of …