Posted on: May 3, 2016 by Nina M. Neuhaus
The Swiss Copyright Act (SCA) is currently under revision. On 11th December 2015, the Swiss Federal Council published the draft legislation and the explanatory notes. The proposed introduction of a lending right for art works in art. 13 para. 1 SCA caused a stir throughout the art market. The applicable law: Up until now, anyone who […]
Posted on: April 6, 2016 by Tony Baumgartner
In the course of 2015 a scandal of potential significance to dealers and their clients emerged. Allegations involving Yves Bouvier, the well-known art dealer and the largest private shareholder in the Geneva freeports (Ports Francs & Entreports de Geneve SA), came to light when Dmitry Rybolovlev, the Russian oligarch, brought civil and criminal proceedings against […]
Posted on: February 3, 2016 by Nina M. Neuhaus
The artist resale right (ARR), also known by the French term droit de suite, is the inalienable right of the artist and his estate to receive a royalty on any resale of his artworks. Unlike other creators, such as musicians, screenwriters, and authors, artists earn money only from the initial sale of their works. However, […]
Posted on: January 25, 2016 by Nina M. Neuhaus
Switzerland was one of the 44 states that approved the Washington Principles on Nazi-confiscated Art in December 1998. By doing so, the Swiss Confederation obliged itself to identify artworks in its collections that were looted during the Second World War, undertake efforts to locate their pre-War owners or legal successors, and take measures to achieve […]
Posted on: August 31, 2015 by Nina M. Neuhaus
On 1 January 2016, the revised Anti-Money Laundering Act (‘AMLA’) will enter into force. The impetus for this revision was the implementation of the Revised Financial Action Task Force Recommendations of 2012. The Financial Action Task Force (‘FATF’) is an inter-governmental organisation which was established by the G-7 Summit in Paris in 1989. Its goal is to […]
Posted on: August 6, 2015 by Alexander Herman
It has been some time since we discussed the Gurlitt affair in these pages. And what has happened since? Well, the challenge to Gurlitt’s will by his cousin Uta Werner has continued on. It is now before the Higher Regional Court in Munich (Oberlandesgericht München) and just last month the Court requested a psychological opinion concerning Gurlitt’s competence […]
Posted on: August 2, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
Just two weeks ago Austria ratified the UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. This brings the tally of States Parties to the Convention to an impressive total of 129 (out of 193 countries in the world). The non-ratifying States include mainly those of South-East […]
Posted on: May 4, 2015 by Nina M. Neuhaus
A recent art fraud scandal has put Mr Yves Bouvier into the media spotlight. Mr Bouvier, also known as the ‘Freeport King’, oversees freeport operations in Geneva, Luxembourg, and Singapore. He is the largest private shareholder of Ports Francs & Entreports de Geneve SA, the company running the freeport in Geneva. (The majority shareholder is […]
Posted on: February 11, 2015 by Nina M. Neuhaus
The Swiss police have seized a 61 x 45.5cm oil painting depicting the marquise Isabella d’Este from a vault of a trust company in Lugano, the southern part of Switzerland bordering Italy. Isabella d’Este, an influential figure in arts and politics during the Italian Renaissance, allegedly commissioned the portrait from Leonardo da Vinci. The portrait, […]
Posted on: January 14, 2015 by Nina M. Neuhaus
On 17 December 2014, the Swiss Federal Council extended the existing sanctions against Syria by introducing a trade ban on cultural objects which were stolen or illegally exported from Syria. The EU had introduced a similar trade ban on 13 December 2013. According to Article 11c, which was inserted by the EU Council Regulation No 1332/2013 […]