UK's art auctions 'under threat'

Every time Damien Hirst's work sells he could get a cut

The UK has warned its art auction business could suffer following a European proposal to speed up giving artists a share of the resale value of their work.

The European Commission (EC) said on Wednesday that Britain, along with Austria, Ireland and the Netherlands, should bring in the law within four years instead of the agreed 10.

Britain in particular is resisting the proposal.

It fears London auction houses like Christie's and Sotheby's would suffer if art owners took their paintings outside the EU in order to avoid handing over a cut of the sale.

Picasso's heirs to get the cut on sales

The other 11 EU countries already have resale rights laws.

EU governments agreed last March after months of argument that those countries with resale rights laws should have five years to implement them, with countries who do not allowed a 10-year exemption.

But the new amendments cut those time scales to two and four years rspectively.

The EC also wants to extend the right to a share of the sale value to the artists' heirs for a further 70 years after their death.

It also wants to give resale rights to more artists, by including those whose work sells for 1,000 euros or more.

But the governments want to set their own level, although they agree it should be no higher than 4,000 euros ($3,518).

Under the proposals, artists will receive a royalty of 4% of the sale price up to 50,000 euros, and on a declining scale above that amount.

A conciliation committee is to try to smooth out the differences between the EC and the member governments.