Law, crime and regulation

UK: THE KENT County Council Bill, which seeks to impose rigorous controls on all trade in secondhand goods in the county, passed its third reading in the House of Lords on January 18, despite substantial opposition, both inside and outside the House.

FRANCE'S auction reform bill was given its first reading in the Assemblée Nationale (Lower House) on December 21/22.

UK: COLLECTABLE 20th century ceramics continue to be the target of some elaborate fakes: among the more recent additions to the 'danger' list are the series of 'Royal Doulton' Union Jack bulldogs and a 'prototype' character jug.

UK: CUSTOMS and Excise have closed a tax loophole leaving UK art dealers with a hefty VAT bill to pay in future.

UK: TWO-thirds of the items recommended for export licence deferrals by the Export Review Committee during 1998/9 ended up being sold abroad anyway, their annual report reveals.

UK: CAMPAIGNERS want all dealers across the country to act now against the proposed Kent County Council Bill which could tie the trade up in red tape and discourage buyers.

FRANCE: PIERRE Lellouche, député (MP) for the Drouot district of Paris, has called for the suppression of import VAT on art and a large cut in the rate of droit de suite, the artists’ resale levy.

EU: THE British Art Market Federation wants the European Union to abandon its bid to impose the artists’ resale rights on the UK after member states again failed to vote on the measure on Thursday.

GERMANY: COMPANIES advertising public auctions or sales on the Internet in Germany are breaking the law and should be stopped, say the German Society of Auctioneers and Fine Arts, Der Bundesverband Deutscher Kunstversteigerer.

FRANCE: AFTER a hearing with the examining magistrate on September 29, leading Paris auctioneer Jacques Tajan has been charged with “suborning a witness and serious breach of trust” over the sale of bronzes by Alberto Giacometti at Drouot in July 1994.

FRANCE: THE French government is to prosecute New York art dealer Adam Williams for handling stolen goods after a painting he bought at Christie’s in London turned out to be Nazi looted art. A successful prosecution could have serious repercussions for the Trade.

US & UK: AN English antiques dealer based in the United States has just helped to reunite Aldenham School with a bronze statue stolen from its grounds 21 years ago.

UK: THE conviction of a jeweller on a charge of criminal deception has raised serious questions as to the legal obligation of dealers to give a ‘fair price’ for items, even when being offered a bargain.

UK: A RULING on whether a series of paintings constitute part of the fixtures of a stately home may set a precedent in similar cases where the owner wishes to sell them.

UK: A DEALER who “fenced” nearly a million pounds worth of stolen art and antiques over six years has been jailed for five years.

UK: FROM September 6, 1999, antiques dealers and auctioneers can check up on any suspicious item they are being offered instantly, seven days a week.

US: TIFFANY stained glass authority Alistair Duncan was convicted on Thursday by a New York federal jury on all five counts of trafficking in Tiffany windows stolen from cemetaries and mausoleums.

UK: A MAN charged with stealing part of the treasured collection of a rugby legend from Sotheby’s faces a retrial after the jury failed to reach a verdict.

AT LEAST a dozen of the world’s top dealers appear to have lost goods as a result of a series of elaborate and sophisticated swindles carried out by a gang operating out of Northern Italy during the past nine months.

UK: ALMOST all of the 22,000 heritage chattels exempted from tax since 1976 will not qualify again under the new Government rules when they come up for reassessment, Sotheby’s believe.