Is a Resale Royalty applicable to artworks sold at a charity auction?
Yes, a qualifying resale of an original artwork sold as part of a charity auction is still subject to the artist’s resale royalty right. While the auction house or vendor may choose to waive their own fees or commission as a business decision, this does not exempt the resale from the artist’s entitlement under the Resale Royalty Scheme.
However, an artist may choose to decline to receive payment of all or part of a resale royalty, in which cases RRA will collect and manage the royalty in accordance with the statutory Regulations. These anticipate that the amount will be transferred to a Cultural Fund for the purposes of supporting the career sustainability of visual artists. Updates about the Cultural Fund can be found here.
For any feedback or policy inquiries regarding this matter, please direct your correspondence to the Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH). Their contact details can be found within our complaints policy document, accessible here: Complaints Policy
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What is the process for claiming an unpaid resale royalty?
RRA will periodically inspect and audit published auction sale results to monitor compliance with the Act and Regulations. However, because we rely on art market professionals and other stakeholders in the Scheme to notify us of resale payments that ...
How will the scheme work for galleries who often buy at auction to re-sell? Will the royalty be payable twice?
A royalty is payable on each resale. Who is liable in each instance is answered by section 17 of the Act. The seller is always liable, and generally their agent will be jointly and severally liable. Generally a buyer won’t be liable unless no agent ...
How is the resale value calculated?
The resale royalty payable is calculated at 5% of the “resale value” of the qualifying resale (section 16). Section 10 says that “resale value” means: “the value of the consideration given for the visual artwork under the contract for resale” which ...
When is a resale royalty payable?
An "eligible artist" (or their successor) has a right to be paid a resale royalty each time there is a “qualifying resale” of an “original visual artwork” by that artist (provided the resale right had not “expired” at the time of resale) Use the ...
How much is the resale royalty payment?
The amount is the same for both eligible artists and successors, a 5% royalty will be collected for eligible artists each time there is a qualifying resale of their original visual artwork. The collection and distribution of the payment is managed by ...