KIELTYKA GLADKOWSKI provides specialist services and consultancy in the field of art market law and of exporting works of art abroad.
We provide legal support to sellers, auction houses, online auction organizers, creators of NFT, artists, end recipients, investors, brokers, collectors, public institutions, museums and non-governmental organizations. We advise and practice in the field of trade in works of art on the market, as well as in the commercial use of works. We fully secure the rights of the creators, capital security of a foreign transaction, also at the stage of transferring economic copyrights. As a law firm, we provide legal assistance in the field of insurance, transport, export of works of art abroad and we conduct effective negotiations.
Our lawyers are members to renowned industry organizations, thanks to which our lawyers are familiar with the international art market in Poland. For example, KIELTYKA GLADKOWSKI has a team of lawyers who are members of the Society of Friends of Fine Arts in Krakow, one of the oldest Polish classical artistic organization in Krakow (Poland), whose management after World War II was headed by the art historian Professor Karol Estreicher, involved in the post-war restitution to Poland of the most important protected old artwork in Poland of class “zero” of the Middle Ages, the St. Mary’s Altar by the sculptor Veit Stoss.
Knowledge of the specialist community is important because the Polish art market is particularly vulnerable to the interference of Polish public authorities in blocking auctions of antiquarian works of art, which are believed to have been in the sellers’ possession since World War II. The most famous example of problems with an antiquarian transaction in Poland in 2022 are the difficulties with putting a painting by Jacek Malczewski “Reality” for sale for tens of millions of zlotys, where the Polish Ministry of Culture and Art notified the Polish Prosecutor’s Office that the presence of the painting at the auction most likely originates from a crime.
KIELTYKA GLADKOWSKI has a particular experience in protecting the interests of the parties to antiquarian transactions against the actions of the Polish prosecutor’s office and securing works of art.
KIELTYKA GLADKOWSKI team of lawyers advises on the cross-border trade of the NFT art market and music artists, taking into account the right to phonogram.
Legal services rendered by our lawyers in relation to works of art include:
- preparation of agreements regarding the exhibition of works of art at art fairs, lending and depositing works of art/collections;
- drawing up contracts for the sale of works of art and regulations;
- preparation of contracts for specific work, licence agreements, cooperation agreements, sponsorship, barter;
- legal support at the stage of transferring economic copyrights, by drawing up contracts tailored to individual needs and negotiating their individual provisions;
- advising on the basis of press law and copyright law when concluding contracts with artistic agencies and publishing houses on publications, e.g. in the field of contemporary art;
- preparation of contracts with antique shops, auction houses, art galleries or assistance in negotiating contract templates received from these entities;
- advice on droit de suite fees, i.e. the right of the creator and heirs to receive remuneration for the sale of original copies of works, in connection with copyright in art;
- advice in cases of infringement of copyrights – effective actions aimed at stopping infringements of copyrights and obtaining compensation for infringement;
- specialist advice on the creation of statutes/regulations of an exhibition unit, an artistic institution;
- consultancy related to the observance of copyright when organizing temporary or permanent exhibitions – in relation to works used (presented) as part of individual exhibitions;
- legal services and support for online antiquarian auctions; drawing up: operating regulations, art consulting contracts – with particular emphasis on verification of objects in terms of investment, contracts for the identification and valuation of antiques, acceptance of trade offers;
- legal advice on the right of pre-emption by the museum of cultural goods sold at auction;
- legal advice on conducting forensic expertise for movable works of art;
- legal advice on the “from nail to nail” insurance product – an insurance product that consists in securing the interests of exhibition industry entities (e.g. art galleries, museums), against the risk of destruction, loss of a work of art due to circumstances covered by insurance risk.
The advisory legal work related to the export of artworks abroad includes:
- Specialized advice on the export of works of art abroad, based, among others, on the following provisions:
- Act on the protection and care of protected old cultural goods of 23 July 2003 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 282, as amended);Regulation of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of 19 July 2019 on templates of assessment documents indicating the time of creation of the protected old cultural goods, valuation of the protected old cultural goods and confirmation of the protected old cultural goods’ importation into the territory of the Republic of Poland (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1470);Regulation of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of 18 April 2011 on the export of protected old cultural goods abroad (Journal of Laws No. 89, item 510);Act of June 27, 1997 on libraries (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1479, as amended);Council Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 on the export of cultural goods (codified version);
- Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1081/2012 of 9 November 2012 for the purposes of Council Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 on the export of cultural goods;
- advice and legal services in obtaining a permit and submitting an appropriate application, in the case of permanent or temporary export of protected old cultural goods, other cultural goods or works of art abroad – for the permanent export of protected old cultural goods or other cultural goods from Poland, the permit is issued by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, while for temporary export – by the competent Provincial Conservator of Protected Old Cultural Goods. The application should contain details of the applicant and the specific work of art and the justification for the export thereof;
- legal advice in connection with determining the conditions for the legal export of works of art based on legal regulations that established the division of movable protected old cultural goods into three categories:
- antiquities not covered by the export ban,
- requiring an export licence and
- subject to an export ban;
- advising on export restrictions applicable to:
- cultural goods referred to in the Annex to Regulation No. 116/2009 (export outside the EU);
- protected old cultural goods referred to in the Act on the protection and care of protected old cultural goods (export to the EU and outside the EU);
- advising on obtaining a permit in the case of placing a given protected old cultural goods under special protection under one of the forms listed in the act. They are, among others:
- entry in the register of protected old cultural goods;
- entry on the List of Heritage Treasures;
- recognition as a “historical monument status”.
- advice on obtaining all types of permits for the export of library materials, issued by the Director of the National Library.
KIELTYKA GLADKOWSKI advises foreign business clients in ordering contracts and negotiating the terms and content of expert opinions on movable works of art in Poland.
