CISAC, EVA and GESAC Petition DG CONNECT Director General to Support Visual Artists’ Resale Right

CISAC Director General Gadi Oron, European Visual Artists (EVA) Secretary General Carola Streul, and European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers (GESAC) Director General Véronique Desbrosses, formally petitioned Mr. Gerard de Graaf, the Director of the European Commission Directorate General for Communications Networks (DG CONNECT) to support the visual artists’ resale right. A formal letter was sent March 22 to Brussels detailing recent developments and results of the joint campaign for worldwide recognition of the visual artists’ resale right.

The letter declared the success of the Directive 2001/84 for European visual artists. Creators received remuneration from markets where this resale right did not exist, such as the United Kingdom. By January 2013, CISAC member DACS paid 2,800 visual artists €23 million with 57% of recipients being UK artists. 60% of the royalties went to living artists.

The result of the resale right campaign generated a resounding chorus among World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Member States supporting the introduction of this right as a mandatory element of international copyright law. The topic is now formally on the agenda of the next session of WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright (SCCR) in April 2016. With the EU Commission already promoting resale right in its bilateral relations, CISAC, EVA and GESAC petition Mr. Gerard de Graaf to help provide EU support for the visual artists’ resale right at a multilateral level.