Droit de suite
Droit de suite
The droit de suite is the right granted to the artist or creator of an original artwork to receive a fee on every resale of their work of art, according to a certain percentage of the selling price.
Works of graphic or visual art
The droit de suite applies to originals of works of graphic or visual art. For example: paintings, statutes, vases, etc. Thus, it does not apply to novels or music compositions.
Een roman of een muziekcompositie valt dus niet onder het volgrecht.
Sales
The droit de suite only applies to the sale of original works of art, so it applies to a Leerdam ‘Unica’, but not to a Leerdam ‘Serica’.
Royalties for the artist
Artists have a right to royalties if the original of his or her work of art is sold. They can only receive royalties if the selling price is more than 3.000 euros, and only if the sale involves the work of a professional art dealer – in this case an auction house. The royalties must be handled by the auction house that is involved with the sale, but must be paid by the buyer of the artwork. In other words, the highest bidder on the relevant item. Up until 50.000 euros (bid plus bid costs) is established by law at a percentage of 4%.
Death of the artist
In case of death, the droit de suite can be transferred to his or her relations or other relatives.
The droit de suite ends 70 years after the artists’ death.
April 1st, 2006
The droit the suite was introduced on April 1st, 2006 by an amendment of the Dutch “Auteurswet” of 1912. This amendment mandates a somewhat uniform system of droit de suite across the
European Union.
More information can be found on the website of
Postbus 51.
