Resale Royalty Scheme

The resale royalty right provides visual artists with rights similar to other creators, such as songwriters or authors, who receive royalty payments from their work.

Under the Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Act 2009, auction houses and galleries are required to report resales to Copyright Agency, Australia’s collecting society for the Scheme. Copyright Agency then determines eligibility, collects the royalty, and pays it to the artist or other right holder/s.

Internationally, over 60 of 167 state parties to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Article 14 also have a resale royalty right for visual artists.

From 31 March 2025, the resale royalty right includes nine countries that have entered into reciprocal arrangements with Australia. The countries are:

• Estonia
• Greece
• Lithuania
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• Poland
• Romania
• Slovakia 
• Uruguay 

This follows the extension of resale royalty entitlements internationally in March 2024 to 17 countries. Australia has now entered into reciprocal arrangements with 26 countries. 

The resale royalty entitlement for eligible works resold in these reciprocal countries will be based on the arrangements of each collecting society.

The 2013 post-implementation review of the Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Act 2009 and associated Scheme provides a snapshot of the Scheme's performance during its establishment phase.