Directive 2001/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, focused on the resale right for the benefit of the author of an original work of art.

It was adopted on 27 September 2001 and was implemented in the UK on 14 February 2006 via Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 346.

The UK government initially opposed the Directive and voted against the final text. During the course of five years of negotiations, the UK government succeeded in securing a derogation designed to limit the damage that the new levy would cause to the competitiveness of the UK's art market.

This derogation applies the Artist's Resale Right (ARR) only to the sales of the work of living artists, however, this is due to expire on 1 January 2012 at the latest.

From that date, ARR will extend to sales of the works of artists who died within 70 years of the date of the resale.

For the full Briefing Paper, please click on the link to the right of this page.