September. After fighting it for years, British art dealers andauctioneers are preparing to implement a European Union rule that will
give artists a royalty when their works are resold in London. Yet they're
still resisting an expansion of royalties to artists' heirs.
In January, the U.K. will follow France and Germany in making sellers of
art pay living artists a royalty, ranging from 120 euros ($149) to 12,500
euros. Art merchants must live with that, though they continue to lobby
against such measures. They argue that they will be less competitive with
the U.S. market, where the rule does not apply, and will be hurt by
scheduled extensions to the resale rights, known in France as ``droit de
suite,'' in 2010 to 2012.
