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:
- 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.