
© Urs Fischer, Varnish Tarnish, 2022
Swiss Art Market Association
The umbrella organisation of the four
major Swiss art trade associations
The Swiss Art Market Association (SAMA), the umbrella organisation of the four major Swiss art trade associations (Gallerists’ Association, Association of Dealers in Antiques & Art, Auctioneers’ Association and Art Dealers’ Association), with its headquarters in Zurich, aims to safeguard the interests of art market participants in the trade vis-à-vis the authorities, associations, private individuals and the media. The SAMA actively promotes a dialogue in politics, business and law that does not ignore the special features of the art market. All this with the aim of defending the advantageous framework conditions of the art market in Switzerland and leading it into the future.
Current
Amendments to the Data Protection Act
The revised Swiss Data Protection Act will come into force on 1 September 2023. You can find a sample data protection declaration for your website here.
VKMS Annual Conference on 30 October 2023 in Bern
VKMS cordially invites the members of the Auctioneers', Antiques and Antique Dealers' Association, the Galleries' and Art Dealers' Association and interested parties to this year's Annual Conference on the topic of "Current Challenges for the Swiss Art Trade Marketplace" and to an exchange of views with interested parties from the collecting community, politics and administration on 30 October 2023 at the Kunstmuseum Bern. Information on registration can be found here.
Money Laundering Prevention
The "Motion Pult" (subordination of the art trade to the stricter money laundering regulations for financial intermediaries) introduced in the Swiss parliament is based on false assumptions and the demanded new legal regulation would result in an enormous additional bureaucratic effort for the entire art trade without necessity. The VKMS counters this by providing our members with pragmatically suitable digital tools in the sense of genuine self-regulation, which, in addition to KYC rules, also take over sanction controls and thus offer a genuine counter-model.