CARFAC, a group that lobbies on behalf of Canadian artists, is calling on the country’s government to enact a resale royalty law that would guarantee artists a five-percent cut when one of their artworks is resold, CBC reports.
Though such laws are commonplace in Europe–where the practice is often handsomely referred to as droit de suite–Canada and the U.S., with the exception of the state of California, do not have such statutes.
As Gallerist noted earlier this month, U.S. lobbying group VAGA is also calling on leaders to enact a resale royalties law at the federal level.
In the U.S., a group of artists and estates are currently battling Sotheby’s and Christie’s over royalties they say that are owed under the California law. The constitutionality of that state law is expected to face scrutiny in the legal battle ahead.
