Artists criticise royalties deal

STRASBOURG, France -- A ruling which protects the royalties artists are entitled to when their paintings are sold has been condemned by the people it is designed to benefit.

A European Parliament ruling passed on Tuesday allows artists to receive royalties of four percent on work valued at between $2,540 and $42,340 -- and on a declining scale after that.

Most EU countries already recognise artists' rights to a share of profits made from selling their work after its initial exchange, but Austria, Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands do not.

Now, governments will have four years to implement the new rules, with a further six-year transition period during which the legislation will only apply to living artists.

But the pressure group Artists Against Droit de Suite (royalties) has criticised the final deal, saying it did nothing to help artists who were not well known, Reuters news agency said.

The group includes such established artists as David Hockney, Karel Appel and Emma Sergeant.

In a statement, it said: "The directive was designed to benefit artists, but instead creates a shameful inequality between famous artists on the one hand and struggling artists on the other."

"It distinguishes between a minority of privileged artists sold in art galleries and auction houses and the majority of artists, who are expressly barred from claiming the Droit de Suite, because their work is resold in transactions between private citizens or by private collectors to museums."

The 626-member assembly in Strasbourg backed the legislation by 405 votes in favour to 101 against, with 32 abstentions.

The British government had argued against the proposal, for fear that London auction houses such as Sotheby's and Christies could lose important business to the U.S. and Switzerland.