If the Australian Parliament passes it, an Australian resale royalty plan for visual artists will become law, effective July 1 2009. The royalty (5%) will be payable on the sale of works of art sold through the secondary market. The requirement will apply to works acquired by the seller after the law takes effect.
If a seller sells an original artwork acquired prior to July 2009, a resale royalty will not be payable.
If a work is sold on the secondary market after the effective date and it was acquired by the seller prior to effective date, no resale royalty payment will be required.
Obviously, the Australian law may not be applicable anywhere else. I believe they will not be able to require it from us, since we are located in the United States. Although work that Australians buy from us to have shipped back to Australia, will fall within the law if they purchase it after the effective date (scheduled for July 2009.) Bottom line for the readers of this blog is the warning that it is better to buy Australian Aboriginal art now instead of post-July, 2009. Such purchases will be protected from the requirement to pay 5% when they sell the art to another party. We have several beautiful works by well known Australian Aboriginal artists for sale on our web site at http://www.Tribalworks.com With our US location, we can serve clients all over the world without royalty charges.Incidentally, Australian Aboriginal Tribal art is growing in popularity in the US, witness this article at http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/86698/australian-art-carving-out-a-niche-in-new-york/Default.aspx. And we at Aboriginals: Art of the First Person have just shipped several major pieces to a buyer in Europe.Postpone your intended purchases at your peril.
