Le SNA

The right of resale

The resale right is the remuneration from which the authors of original graphic and plastic works benefit when reselling their works during which an art market professional intervenes.

Since 2007, the law has made it compulsory to declare and pay droit de suite on certain categories of works sold.
The legal provisions that came into force on 1 June 2007 are :
- article L 122-8 of the intellectual property code, resulting from the law of 1 August 2006.
- articles R 122-1 to R 122-11 of the intellectual property code, resulting from the Decree of 9 May 2007.

Sales that meet the following 7 criteria must be declared and paid for under the droit de suite:

1 The author must be a national of a Member State of the European Union or of a State that is part of the European Economic Area. Other authors or their successors in title may nevertheless benefit from droit de suite if the legislation of their State recognises droit de suite for authors from the European Union (principle of reciprocity. See the indicative list of countries) or if the author has participated in French artistic life and has resided for 5 years in France, with the agreement of the Minister of Culture and after the opinion of a commission (assimilation).

2 The author must have been living or deceased for less than 70 years. In the absence of knowledge of the date of the author's death, it is considered that works after 1860 are likely to be subject to droit de suite.

3 Graphic and plastic works such as paintings, collages, paintings, drawings, prints (lithographs, engravings, etc.), including sculptures, tapestries, furniture and movable objects, ceramics, glassware, photographs and plastic creations on audiovisual and digital media are concerned.

4 These works must be original within the meaning of the resale right:
a. works created by the artist himself or herself
b. copies executed in limited quantities, by the artist himself or under his responsibility, i.e. numbered or signed or otherwise duly authorised by the author. These are in particular :
- original prints printed in a limited number from one or more plates
- sculpture editions, within the limit of 12 copies, numbered copies and artist's proofs combined
- hand-made tapestries and works of textile art, based on original models provided by the artist, up to a limit of 8 copies
- enamels entirely executed by hand and bearing the artist's signature, within the limit of 8 numbered copies and 4 artist's proofs,
- signed photographic works, limited to 30 copies,
- plastic creations on audiovisual or digital media up to a limit of 12 copies, ...

5 Any sale, other than the first sale of the work made by the author or his successors in title, during which an art market professional intervenes as seller, buyer or intermediary: sales company, auctioneer, gallery, antique dealer, framer, etc., is subject to this rule.
However, by way of derogation, sales for a price of less than €10,000 made by a seller who acquired the work directly from the author less than three years before the sale are not subject to the tax.

6 The sale must take place in France or be subject to VAT there.

7 The sale price must be greater than or equal to 750 euros.