Guided Dossiers of the Association

The Swiss Art Market Association “SAMA” monitors current events in the national and international art market and reports on an ongoing basis, summarising relevant trends and results for its members and interested parties. In addition to informing its members, the management of the dossiers, which are thus arranged according to seven themes, allows the SAMA to take an active role in the discussion of current issues that concern art market participants, but also politics, administration, science and press reporting. In addition to this presentation, which is always kept up to date, we inform our members by sending out a quarterly newsletter, which takes up national and international press coverage in the structure according to the defined dossiers.

Copyright

The SAMA is committed to ensuring that copyright legislation reflects the interests of all art market participants, even in the digital age. It has been successfully argued that the introduction of the so-called resale right (“droit de suite”) would have significantly more negative effects on the art trading market. The advantage of foregoing this additional levy when selling a work of art on the secondary market benefits all participants, including the artists. The SAMA continues to participate in current discussions with the IGE (Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property), the BAK (Federal Office of Culture), ProLitteris, etc., for example on the topic of “Appropriation Art” or “Photographic Image Protection”, and informs its members about the state of legislation and practice in the course of the digital transformation. Copyright issues will also become increasingly important in areas such as “NFT”, “tokenisation of works of art”, etc.

Money Laundering Prevention

The SAMA is promptly following the problematic European development of an increasing tightening of money laundering guidelines also in the art market and is trying to exert influence in order to counteract adequate regulation by informing people about the reality of the profession of art and antiques trading. After all, galleries and dealers cannot be treated the same as banks. The problem is accentuated by newly created sanction laws against Russian oligarchs. The SAMA is actively working on self-regulatory measures in all these areas (formulated, for example, as an association recommendation to set up a threshold for accepting cash up to CHF 25,000) and is holding talks with various players such as ArtBasel, the RAM (Responsible Art Market) initiative, but above all with the federal administration. The aim of these efforts, with the inclusion of new technological solutions, is to establish pragmatically understood due diligence in the purchase and sale of works, adapted to the circumstances, in order to avoid any further legislative projects that generate disproportionate effort for market participants.

Protection of cultural property

The SAMA has been actively involved in the legislative project for the Cultural Dispatch 2021-2024, which has just been concluded, and supports the plan according to which the conclusion of bilateral agreements as well as projects for the preservation of endangered cultural heritage in an international context make it clear that Switzerland is committed to the legal exchange of cultural property and actively opposes illegal activities. In this way, Switzerland can protect its reputation as an art trade centre, which is a concern of the SAMA. Discussions are also held with the BAK when it comes to the sensible use of provenance research in Swiss museums, which must not be carried out without compensation on the backs of the art dealers involved. The SAMA is also actively involved in the research platform for provenance research initiated by the BAK and offers its services as a discussion partner in professional debates at home and abroad. The SAMA is following any efforts to revise the Cultural Property Transfer Act, which will soon have been in force for 20 years, with constructive contributions based on the practical experience of the industry participants.

Looted art

The SAMA actively participates in international conferences on the topics of looted art and provenance research and collaborates with experts in these fields. At the same time, an exchange is maintained with the FOC’s specialist unit on this topic and enquiries from interested parties are answered on an ongoing basis, especially in the current discussions on private collections in the art museums in Bern and in Zurich. Here, too, it has been noted to the Federal Administration that the involvement of the trade in provenance research projects is desirable, but must also be compensated. The SAMA is positively disposed towards the inclusion of the trade in the Federal Administration’s Provenance Research Platform project and should be involved.

(Value added) tax

The SAMA is in discussion with customs and VAT authorities, with warehouse keepers, transporters, insurers and other players in the industry. Half-truths are to be countered by transparent information about the current customs and tax legislation. Work should be done to ensure that future adjustments, especially to VAT and customs legislation, reflect the realities of the various transactions in the art market. In times after the pandemic, talk of reducing bureaucracy will finally have to be translated into action. The SAMA also wants to advocate for tax models as an incentive for the acquisition of works of art.

Sustainability

Sustainability is probably the most pressing issue of the present day – also in the art world. The players are looking for ways to save resources and reduce their ecological footprint. Energy consumption, storage, transport, travel, exhibition organisation: there is a need for action in all areas. The SAMA is facing up to the ecological restructuring of the art business and is constantly evaluating providers who offer interesting services in this area. For example, in the area of transport and logistics, companies that offer marketable systems of recyclable transport boxes. In addition, the SAMA supports the project of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) to establish an “Office Switzerland” in Switzerland.

Digitisation

The SAMA is following the development of the market very closely in various digitisation projects (on topics such as money laundering and provenance research, authenticity issues, etc.). In this transformation of the art market, which has experienced an incredible acceleration according to COVID-19, the SAMA also wants to take a leading role for the association members and offer assistance so that smaller businesses are not denied access to digital business models. New business models are also being pursued in the area of sustainability.

Beyond purely economic interests, the SAMA wants to emphasise the cultural significance of the work of the members of the four art trade associations. An intact art trade is still a driving force for a vital cultural location in Switzerland. In order to be able to continue this important work in the future, it is necessary to conduct a dialogue with the political and legal authorities that is not closed to the special features of the art market.