Resale remuneration

The opportunities for visual artists to be compensated when the value of their work increases is more limited than in many other fields of art. For this reason, visual artists are entitled to a special remuneration, applicable only to visual artworks, when their work is resold, in addition to other forms of copyright remuneration.

This resale remuneration must be paid when a professional operator in the art market sells a work of art. Resale remuneration is not paid when the work is sold for the first time, i.e. when the ownership of the work is transferred from the author in the first instance.

The payment of the resale remuneration is the responsibility of the professional operator involved in the sale of the work: the seller, dealer or buyer. No resale remuneration is paid when the transaction is between two private consumers.

Resale remuneration applies to all forms of visual art. These include any artwork created by the author and reproductions created or authorised by the author, provided that the number of copies produced is limited. Some types of works for which resale remuneration is paid include: paintings, sculptures, drawings, glass art and ceramics, art prints, fine art photographs, handmade design, art textiles and products of applied arts, installations and video art.

The right to resale remuneration requires that the work is still protected by copyright. In Finland, copyright protection lasts 70 years after the author’s death.

Kuvasto ry (a copyright society for artists working in the field of visual arts) collects and pays resale remuneration to artists. Kuvasto ry also pays resale remuneration to artists who are not members of Kuvasto ry, which is not the case for other forms of copyright remuneration. Payments are also made to foreign artists when their artwork is sold in Finland.

For more information on resale remuneration, please visit the Kuvasto ry website.