‘Lou’s Story’, 2008 © Lottie Davies

Code of Conduct, Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy
Code of Conduct

Introduction and Company Information

 

This code of conduct has been created in accordance with the British Copyright Council’s Principles for Collective Management Organisations’ Codes of Conduct.

 

This code sets out the standards and principles that the Artists’ Collecting Society (ACS) applies in terms of our dealings with our members and licensees and in the operation of our internal governance processes. It also provides our members with core information about ACS, as well as outlining how to get in touch with the team if they have a concern or query.


 

ACS is a not-for-profit community interest company dedicated to the administration of the Artist’s Resale Right (ARR) and copyright. We collect and distribute ARR and copyright royalties to visual artists and artists’ estates who have specifically mandated us to do so. ACS administers the Artist’s Resale Right in line with the UK Artist’s Resale Right Regulations (2006 & 2011) which implement European Directive 2001/84/EC.

 

ACS was founded at the request of artists and Art Market Professionals who were worried about the monopolistic implications of having only one collecting society dedicated to the administration of the Artist’s Resale Right and recognised the need for a transparent, fair and professional society that puts artists’ needs first. As a community interest company, ACS operates solely for the benefit of its member artists and the artistic community. This means that any surplus income (following the deduction of administration costs) is locked in to the company and must be used to benefit ACS’ members or the artistic community. This is done through a range of sponsorships and bursaries that support individual artists, artistic organisations and charities. You can read more about these activities here.

 

ACS collects Artist’s Resale Right royalties on behalf of its members in the UK and throughout European Economic Area (EEA). In order to ensure collection outside the UK, ACS uses the services of a number of European collecting societies. If a foreign collecting society’s commission is higher than the ACS commission rate, where legally possible, ACS will always collect directly from Art Market Professionals (auction houses, galleries and dealers) in that country. This ensures that ACS member artists and estates are never charged more than is absolutely necessary.

 

You can see a full list of European collecting societies that ACS hold a unilateral agreement with here.

 

ACS’ Activities

 

ACS administers the collection and distribution of the Artist’s Resale Right and copyright on behalf of its member artists and artists’ estates.

 

ACS’ activities are governed in accordance with the UK’s Collective Management of Copyright (EU Directive’Regulations) 2016. To see the full list of ACS’ obligations in relation to right holders please click here.

 

Artist’s Resale Right

 

The Artist’s Resale Right is a royalty generated on the sale price of original works or art that are sold on the secondary market, through an Art Market Professional (an auction house, gallery or dealer). It was introduced into UK law in 2006 and the threshold at which it would apply was set at €1,000. In 2011, an amendment to the legislation extended the Right to the estates of deceased artists in the UK, which came into force on 1st January 2012.

 

Under the UK regulations, the Artist’s Resale Right can only be administered by a registered collecting society, requiring artists or their estates to mandate a collecting society, such as ACS, to do so on their behalf.

 

Visual artists who are UK and EEA citizens, and their estates, qualify for the Artist’s Resale Right and can therefore appoint ACS to administer the Artist’s Resale Right on their behalf. This is done by signing a mandate agreement. You can see a sample copy of this agreement here. By doing so, the artist or estate appoints ACS as the sole body that can collect the Artist’s Resale Right on their behalf in the UK and the EEA. There are no fees or membership costs to register with ACS and you can join ACS here.

 

Once appointed to collect the Artist’s Resale Right on behalf of an artist or estate, ACS will track sales and all eligible transactions of the artist’s or estate’s work throughout the UK and EEA. This is done through a variety of methods, including a sales information request which is sent to Art Market Professionals throughout the UK every quarter. Royalties are then collected from the sellers and distributed directly to the artist or their estate at the end of the month in which they are received. These royalties are calculated using the sliding scale, as outlined in the UK legislation. Please see our ARR calculator for more details. Distributed royalties are accompanied by a payment statement which details:

 

– the title of the work(s) sold
– where the work(s) was / were sold
– the date of the sale of the work(s)
– the sale price of the work(s)
– the Artist’s Resale Right royalties that apply
– the 15% deduction of ACS commission
– the net payment made to the artist or their estate

 

As ACS does not charge fees or membership costs, we cover our administration costs by deducting a 15% commission from royalties collected.

 

ACS members can terminate their agreement with ACS for the collection of Artist’s Resale Right by providing three months’ notice in writing.

 

Copyright

 

The ACS copyright service manages copyright on behalf of artists and estates who have appointed us to do so. It was established to increase the income of artists and their estates and to relieve them of the administrative burden of handling the copyright themselves. We will always insist that the artists or artist’s estate is fully credited when any of their images are reproduced. We also endeavour to police all reported licensing infringements and to act accordingly and will provide advice and support if a member’s works is used without permission. Our service is personalised to provide for the wishes of our members so that artists and artists’ estates are able to maintain total control over the usage and distribution of their work. Furthermore, artists and estates are able to specify instances in which they might wish copyright fees to be waived, for example in the use of educational literature.

 

Artists and their estates can appoint ACS to manage their copyright by signing a five-year contract. You can see a sample copy of the ACS copyright agreement here. There are no fees or membership costs to register with ACS for the management of your copyright and you can join ACS by contacting us here.

 

We charge copyright fees for all usages of the work of our members on behalf of the artist or estate. You can see a copy of our standard copyright fees here. To view our standard copyright licence please click here. Copyright fees are paid to our artists or estates on a quarterly basis with a statement detailing the following:

 

– the title of the work(s) used
– how / where the work(s) was / were used
– the company that requested the use
– the medium of the use
– the exchange rate (if applicable)
– the royalty paid
– the percentage of the royalty the artist or estate receives
– the net payment made to the artist or their estate

 

As ACS does not charge fees or membership costs, we cover our administration costs by deducting a 25% commission from royalties collected.

 

ACS members can terminate their agreement with ACS for the management of their copyright by providing three months’ notice in writing.

 

Accountability and Governance

 

ACS is governed by a Board of Directors, which consists of twelve members. ACS always endeavours to appoint artists or artists’ estates who are represented by ACS for the Artist’s Resale Right to constitute half of this membership. The other Directors consist of copyright experts, dealers, curators, art consultants and legal professionals. Each Director is appointed for a period of three years at the end of which they are eligible for re-appointment for a further term of three years.

 

The Board of Directors meets once a year for an AGM in which they discuss the company’s activities and developments over the previous year. They also discuss possible future developments and upcoming events. All members of ACS can contact us to discuss any issues that they would like discussed during the AGMs. Members of ACS will be notified of any major changes or decisions made at an AGM.

 

For information on issues that have arisen in previous years, please see our Annual Reviews.

 

Service Levels

 

Artist’s Resale Right

 

ACS distributes Artist’s Resale Right royalties directly to the artist or their estate at the end of the month in which they are received. These royalties are calculated using the sliding scale, as outlined in the UK legislation. Please see our ARR calculator for more details. Distributed royalties are accompanied by a payment statement which details the following:

 

– the title of the work(s) sold
– where the work(s) was / were sold
– the date of the sale of the work(s)
– the sale price of the work(s)
– the Artist’s Resale Right royalties that apply
– the 15% deduction of ACS commission
– the net payment made to the artist or their estate

 

Copyright

 

We charge copyright fees for all usages of the work of our members on behalf of the artist or estate. Copyright fees are paid to our artists or estates on a quarterly basis with a statement detailing the following:

 

– the title of the work(s) used
– how / where the work(s) was / were used
– the company that requested the use
– the medium of the use
– the exchange rate (if applicable)
– the royalty paid
– the percentage of the royalty the artist or estate receives
– the net payment made to the artist or their estate

 

Distribution of Royalties

 

Members are paid royalties based on the portion of the royalty they are entitled to receive. Living artists are, for example, entitled to 100% of the Artist’s Resale Right. However, where multiple beneficiaries have inherited a royalty, the percentage per beneficiary will naturally be lower.

 

ACS distributes all Artist’s Resale Right royalties to all members at the end of the month in which they were received, providing we hold current correspondence and correct bank details. Payments are normally transferred on the last working day of the month. The distribution includes all royalties that were paid to ACS on or before the 24th of each month. Copyright royalties are paid to all members on a quarterly basis.

 

The total of each payment sent to a UK based bank account must reach the ACS payment threshold of £20.00. The total of each payment sent to an overseas bank account must reach the ACS payment threshold of £40.00.  If the total payment due does not reach the ACS payment threshold, the monies will be held until other royalties are collected.  Payment will then be made at the end of the month in which the threshold has been reached.

 

ACS only administers royalties on behalf of artists and artists’ estate for whom we hold a mandate. By doing so we hope to ensure that we are able to pay all royalties as and when they are received.

 

If payment is returned to ACS due to incorrect details, the royalties will be held until the member can be contacted and the correct payment details can be provided. Payment will be made at the end of the month in which the correct details have been provided.

 

If royalties are non-distributable, ACS will do its utmost to locate the correct rights holder in order to pay them. If after six years ACS is not able to locate the correct rights holders, ACS will return the royalties to the source from whence they came.

 

Contacting ACS

 

ACS guarantees to treat all enquiries and discussions in a fair, honest and impartial manner and to be courteous, clear and friendly in all our correspondence. Furthermore, we will always treat enquiries in the strictest confidence.

 

You can contact ACS by telephone on +44 (0)345 11 22 400. We endeavour to answer all telephone calls. If you leave a message or a request to be called back, we will respond within 24 hours.

 

You can also contact ACS by emailing info@artistscollectingsociety.org.uk. We endeavour to answer emails on the day they are received or within 24 hours of being received.

 

If you would prefer to discuss matters in person, you can visit the ACS office at:

 

17 – 19 Garway Road
London
W2 4PH

 

The standard office hours of the ACS team are 9.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday and we can be contacted at any point during these hours.

 

Data Protection

 

As a not-for-profit organisation, ACS is exempt from registration with the Information Commissioner. However, we nonetheless adhere to the principles set out in the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR).  These two pieces of legislation govern the protection of personal data in the UK. This means that ACS will not disclose its members’ personal information without the permission of the individual member in question.

 

The GDPR is designed to give people greater control over how companies and organisations use their personal information.

 

We have updated the ACS Privacy Policy to ensure that it clearly sets out how ACS handles our members’ data and that we are compliant with the GDPR.

 

If a member wishes to update their personal data, or wishes to access the personal data we hold, this can be done by contacting us via email, telephone or post.

 

Please also see the Privacy Policy below.

 

Queries, Complaints and Dispute Resolution

 

We always want to hear from our members if they have any complaints regarding our service, failure to adhere to this code or suggestions for improving our service.

 

To do so, members should contact the ACS Senior Manager. This can be done by:

 

Telephoning the Senior Manager on +44 (0) 20 7908 1634.
Emailing the Senior Manager here.
Writing to the Senior Manager at:

 

Senior Manager
Artists’ Collecting Society
17 – 19 Garway Road
London
W2 4PH

 

ACS will aim to respond to complaints within five working days of receiving the complaint and during each stage of the formal complaints procedure. This is as follows:

 

1. The Senior Manager will respond to your complaint.
2. If you are dissatisfied with this response, the matter will be referred to the Managing Director.
3. If you remain dissatisfied, the matter will then be referred to our Board of Directors for further investigation.

Terms & Conditions

The following relates to the Artists’ Collecting Society website.

 

If you would like to read the ACS Studio Prize Terms & Conditions, please click here.


Copyright Statement

 

The website and its contents are owned and operated by the Artists’ Collecting Society. All elements of the website and all rights therein, including but not limited to the content and general design, are protected by copyright and database rights. Some content displayed may also be subject to third party rights. All rights reserved.

 

By accessing this website and downloading or otherwise viewing any images or other content from this website, you will be deemed to have agreed to the following:

 

Any use of the images on this site is subject to written permission from the Artists’ Collecting Society and the applicable Licence Terms and Conditions. In particular but without limitation no images may be reproduced, communicated to the public, distributed, re-used or extracted from this website for any purpose (including without limitation any storage, reproduction, linking or indexing for the purposes of any search engines) without the prior written consent of the Artists’ Collecting Society. Third party permission (for example from the artist or their estate or from the holders of any trade mark, personality or image rights or similar) may also be required and the Artists’ Collecting Society makes no warranties or representations in this regard nor does it purport to grant any such rights. Please contact the Artists’ Collecting Society for further information.

 

No permission is granted to create any hyperlinks to any part of this website or to frame any pages or images from this website. The prior written consent of the Artists’ Collecting Society must be sought.

 

To the fullest extent permitted by English law (which law shall apply) and unless otherwise expressly agreed by the Artists’ Collecting Society in writing, the Artists’ Collecting Society shall have no liability in connection with any use made of this website or any images or other content contained within it.

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may change from time to time, so please check it on a regular basis.

 

Last updated: 18 May 2018

 

This Privacy Policy describes how the Artists’ Collecting Society uses your personal data which we may collect on this website or which you may provide to us. Please also read the Terms and Conditions of Use above for details of how you may use the content contained in the Website and the extent of our responsibility for such content. You do not need to give us any personal data in order to browse the Website. If you do decide to register with us, or to contact us you may need to submit some personal data.


 

 

What personal data do we collect about you?

 

We collect from you limited personal data which includes your name(s), contact details and possibly any other personal details that you provide to us, if this is necessary for our activities. We will not ask you to send us any sensitive personal data, such as your religious convictions, state of mental or physical health, ethnic origin and similar sensitive information. Please do not send us any such personal data if possible to help us with our obligations under law. If you do send us such data, we will accept your explicit consent to use such sensitive personal data in the ways described in this Privacy Policy or as described by you.

 

How do we collect your personal data?

 

We collect personal data from you when you complete the online registration process or when we send you registration forms. We also process your personal data every time that you contact us via email, post or telephone for the purposes of dealing with your query. We collect additional technical information automatically about use of our Website through cookies (see below).

 

Why do we collect your personal information?

 

We use the information that we collect or that you provide to:

 

– register you with ACS
– send payments and payment statements when we have collected Artist’s resale Right or copyright on your behalf
– respond to your queries
– administer the Website and your use of the Website

 

Use of Cookies

 

We use cookies on our Website to help you browse it, and to allow us to authenticate your use of and to generally administer the Website. A cookie is a small text file stored on your hard drive containing information about you as the user (some of which may be personal data, such as your name, location and registration information). Cookies are used in the general workings of the Website. Once you close your browser, most cookies will expire. If you are concerned about cookies, most browsers permit you to decline cookies. In most cases, you may refuse a cookie and still navigate our website (although some functionality may be lost). You can find out more about cookies at http://www.allaboutcookies.org/, an online public information resource provided by the Interactive Advertising Bureau UK, and if you have any particular concerns you can contact us at info@artistscollectingsociety.org.uk.

 

Direct Marketing

 

When you join ACS, we will send you our monthly newsletter via email using the email address that you give us, providing you have opted in. We may also send you information regarding related intellectual property services, such as copyright and Payback, as well as company matters. We do not pass your personal data on to any third parties for direct marketing purposes, nor do we buy in lists of email addresses for our own direct marketing.

 

If you wish to subscribe to the ACS Newsletter, you can do so on our website. If at any time you wish to stop receiving newsletters, simply follow the link contained in the newsletter, or send an email to info@artistscollectingsociety.org.uk.

 

Disclosure of your personal data to third parties

 

We will disclose your personal data to the following persons:

 

– our third-party suppliers (in accordance with applicable data protection legislation) to allow them to carry out their services and fulfil your orders
– any person who takes a transfer of our rights and obligations under any agreement we have with you
– regulators (including the Information Commissioner’s Office), professional advisers to and agents of ACS

 

Monitoring Emails

 

Our network security system may automatically intercept or block any email you provide to us if the email contains any words or attachments that trigger the content filter to respond. The system is designed to detect and block potentially wrongful code or illicit or offensive content. It may exceptionally and by mistake block perfectly proper correspondence. You will be notified of such a block by return email. Please contact us on info@artistscollectingsociety.org.uk if you need assistance.

 

Links to other websites

 

This Privacy Policy does not cover links within the Website to websites of third parties. We are not responsible for the use of any personal data, including without limitation cookies, which you give directly to such third parties, or which they may collect about you while you visit pages hosted by them. Please refer to their respective privacy policies for information about their use of your personal data and their use of cookies.

 

Access to the personal data we hold about you

 

You have a right to access (and if necessary correct) the personal data held about you. Please contact us if you wish to do so. We may need to contact you occasionally to ask that you confirm that the personal data that we hold about you is still accurate and up to date, to ensure that we continue to comply with our obligations under law.

 

Right to withdraw consent

 

Under the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR), you have the right to withdraw consent to the processing of your personal data at any time. Please contact us by emailing info@artistscollectingsociety.org.uk or calling 0345 1122 400 if you wish to do so. For more information on the rights afforded to you by the GDPR, please see the relevant paragraphs below.

 

Governing Law

 

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of England and any dispute relating to this Privacy Policy and our data protection obligations will be resolved by the appropriate English supervisory authority (the Office of the Information Commissioner) or the English courts.

 

Contacting us

 

We welcome your enquiries and comments on this Privacy Policy and any queries or concerns that you may have about the Website. Please contact us at info@artistscollectingsociety.org.uk or by letter to the Data Protection Officer at the Artists’ Collecting Society, 17-19 Garway Road, London W2 4PH.

 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that comes into force on 25 May 2018 grants you the following rights with regard to how we process your data:

 

Right to restrict processing

 

You have the right to request the restriction of the processing of your personal data where one of the following applies:

 

– you contest the accuracy of the personal data
– the processing is unlawful, and you oppose the erasure of your personal data and wish for restricted processing of the data instead
– we no longer need your personal data, but it is required by you for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim
– you object to the processing of your data on our part, and the processing is pending while we consider your objection due to legitimate interests

 

When personal data processing has been restricted, we will not process it unless you provide consent for us to do so or it is necessary for us to process it for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim, or for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person or for reasons of important public interest. This excludes the permitted storage of your personal data.

 

Right to object

 

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data where our legal basis for processing the data relates to one of the following:

 

– where personal data is processed for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or the exercise of official authority vested in us, or for the purposes of our legitimate interests. If you object to the processing of your personal data on these legal bases, it must be on grounds relating to your particular situation. If you do so, we will no longer process your personal data unless there are clear and demonstrable legitimate grounds which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
– where personal data is processed for direct marketing purposes. If you object to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing, we will no longer process your personal data for such purposes
– where personal data is required for scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes, unless the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out for reasons of public interest. If you object to the processing of your personal data for scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes, it must be on grounds relating to your particular situation

 

Right to erasure

 

You have the right to request the immediate erasure of any personal data concerning you where one of the following applies:

 

– the personal data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or otherwise processed
– you withdraw consent on which the processing is based and there is no other legal ground for the processing
– you object to the processing of the data and there is no overriding legitimate grounds for the processing
– your personal data was unlawfully processed
– your personal data must be erased for compliance with a legal obligation