The Artists’ Resale Right: A Matter of Simple Fairness – Hugh Stephens

“For the past few years, the charge on the ARR has been led in Canada by CARFAC (Canadian Artists Representation), an advocacy group for Canadian artists, and its sister Quebec-based group, RAAV (Le Front des Artistes Canadiens). France is the original home of the ARR, where it is known as the droit de suite, and both CARFAC and RAAV are in regular contact with their French colleagues. The droit de suite was first adopted in France in 1920, and the organization and copyright collective representing French artists, the Society of Authors in the Graphic and Plastic Arts–known as AGADP in France–continues to lobby for global application of the ARR. This is primarily because, although the right was adopted into the Berne Convention in 1948, it is optional rather than compulsory for Berne Convention states and operates strictly on the basis of reciprocity. Thus, broader global coverage brings greater returns for French artists. In 2019, of 15.5 million Euros in droit de suite payments made to French artists, roughly a third or 4.6 million Euros came from payments from sister organizations in foreign countries collecting on behalf of French artists.”