The Artist’s Resale Right rates finally begins in Mexico

Serena BaroneArtists Resale Right, Latin America, Mexico, News, Visual Arts

Visual artists of Mexico have a reason to celebrate as after almost 20 years of fighting for the recognition of their right to benefit from the resale of their works, on 19th of January the definitive Fee Schedule of the Artist’s Resale Right (ARR), also called Droit de Suite, was finally published, making it possible for payments for authors to go ahead.

Since its reform in March 2003, Mexican copyright legislation has granted plastic artists and photographers the right to receive a share of the resale price of their works, when carried out at public auctions, in a commercial establishment or with the intervention of a merchant or commercial agent. However, for many years this provision was not complied with because the law established that this remuneration should be based on an official rate, which did not exist because the user associations – art galleries and auction houses – opposed the proposals of collective management societies.

In 2021, the Sociedad Mexicana de Autores de las Artes Plásticas (SOMAAP) again presented a rate proposal, which resulted in the approval and publication of the following rates for the resale of works of art including original art, as well as numbered and signed reproductions:

  • 4% when the sale price of the work is from $1.00 to $50 thousand pesos (MX);
  • 3% when the sale price of the work is from $50,001 to 200,000 pesos (MX);
  • 2% when the sale price of the work is from $200,001 to $500,000 pesos (MX), and
  • 1% when the sale price of the work is greater than $500,001 pesos (MX).

In Mexico the Artist’s Resale Right is an inalienable right, which is transmitted to the artist’s heirs upon their death and expires 100 years after the author’s death, in line with the duration of copyright in Mexico.

The International Authors Forum has been glad to support its members SOMAAP and the Sociedad de Autores de Obras Visuales (SAOV) in this campaign and sends their congratulations for this achievement which will greatly benefit Mexican artists and contributes to global efforts to ensure authors are properly recognised and rewarded for their work.