What does French law change for a collector buying at Art Basel Paris, a foreign gallery selling from its booth, or an artist whose work is shown at the Grand Palais?
Each October, Art Basel Paris brings more than 200 galleries from 41 countries and territories to the Grand Palais. The 2026 edition runs from 23 to 25 October, with Preview Days on 21 and 22 October. A sale agreed at a booth in Paris can bring French rules into play, whatever the nationality of the parties. Some apply because French law governs the transaction; others apply because a work is sold, imported, exported, exhibited or reproduced in France.
The questions below are those the Firm’s art market practice hears most often during fair week. They are grouped by reader: collectors, galleries and artists.
This page is reviewed before each edition. Last updated: October 2026.
Buying at the fair
When does a purchase at the fair become legally binding?
As a default rule under French law, a sale is complete as soon as buyer and seller have agreed on the work and the price, even if the work has not yet been delivered or paid for. Ownership normally passes at that point, and the risk of loss or damage follows ownership, unless the parties have agreed otherwise or a specific rule changes the result.
Galleries often provide that title will pass only after full payment. Before leaving the fair, a collector who has agreed a price on the booth should therefore establish three things: who owns the work, who bears the risk and who insures it until it reaches its destination.
Is a “hold” on a work a binding commitment?
It depends on what was actually agreed. Where the work and the price have been settled, a “hold” may already amount to a sale.
Where the gallery has only undertaken to give the collector priority before selling to someone else, the arrangement may instead be closer to a right of first refusal (pacte de préférence), which French law recognises. If the gallery sells in breach of that commitment, damages may be available. In some circumstances, the collector may also seek cancellation of the later sale, or substitution for the buyer, if that buyer knew both of the commitment and of the collector’s intention to rely on it.
The practical difficulty is usually evidence. French law generally requires written evidence for legal acts above a statutory threshold, while proof against a merchant acting in the course of trade is more flexible. For a significant acquisition, an email confirming the work, the price and the precise terms of the hold remains the simplest safeguard.
Can a gallery restrict my right to resell the work?
Galleries increasingly ask buyers to undertake not to resell for a given period, or to offer the work back to the gallery first. If validly drafted, such undertakings can bind the buyer who agreed to them, but they do not as a rule bind third parties who were not parties to the agreement.
A buyer who resells in breach may face a damages claim from the gallery. Whether the resale itself can be challenged depends on the wording of the clause and on what the second buyer knew, particularly where the clause operates as a right of first refusal. French legislation does not contain a specific regime for these clauses in art sales, so the wording should be reviewed before the invoice or sale agreement is signed.
What should the invoice state?
A 1981 decree on art transactions, known as the Marcus Decree, entitles the buyer to an invoice or receipt on request. That document must reflect the statements made by the seller about the nature, composition, origin and age of the work.
Those statements can become a central reference point if the attribution, date or medium is later questioned. Foreign collectors should ask for the document at the time of purchase, in addition to any certificate of authenticity. Our guide to artwork authenticity and attribution disputes in France explains why the exact wording used at the time of sale can matter.
Do I need an export certificate to take the work home?
For most works by living artists, no. French export controls apply to cultural goods that fall within categories defined by age and value. For paintings, sculptures and photographs, these categories concern works more than fifty years old that no longer belong to their author. Above the current French thresholds, an export certificate is required for a painting worth more than €300,000, a sculpture worth more than €100,000 and a photograph worth more than €25,000.
Export outside the European Union may also require an EU export licence. Its thresholds differ from the French ones; for paintings, the EU threshold is €150,000. A work brought into France temporarily for the fair can in principle leave again without a French export certificate. For a fuller checklist, see our guide to taking an artwork out of France after purchase.
Can I pay in cash?
Only within strict limits. A buyer whose tax residence is outside France and who is paying for a personal, non-business purchase may pay a professional up to €15,000 in cash. For other payments to a professional, the ordinary French cash limit is much lower. For an art-fair acquisition, a bank transfer or another traceable payment method is generally the safer option.
Identity checks and sanctions screening
Why is a gallery asking for my passport and company documents?
Art dealers and intermediaries, including galleries, are subject to French anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing rules when a transaction, or a series of linked transactions, reaches €10,000. Before completing the transaction, the professional must identify the client and, where relevant, the beneficial owner, and verify that identity using reliable documents. The same logic is explained in our guide to AML and KYC rules for foreign art buyers in France.
The requirement applies to French and foreign clients alike. Buyers acting through a company, trust, family office or adviser should expect questions about who ultimately owns or controls the purchasing entity.
Why am I being asked where the money comes from?
French law requires enhanced scrutiny where a transaction is particularly complex, involves an unusually high amount or appears to lack economic justification. In that situation, the professional may need information on the origin and destination of the funds, the purpose of the transaction and the identity of the beneficiary.
A payment made by a third party, or from an account held in another name, will usually prompt additional questions. These requests do not in themselves imply suspicion. For galleries and other professionals, our publication on AML/CFT risk mapping in the art market explains how payment method, geography, client structure and transaction value fit into the wider compliance analysis.
What happens if I cannot provide the documents in time?
If a regulated professional cannot identify and verify its client as required, it must not carry out the transaction or continue the business relationship. Collectors planning a significant acquisition through a holding company, trust or family office should therefore gather corporate and beneficial ownership documents before the fair.
Do these rules apply to a foreign gallery selling in Paris?
For asset freezes and financial sanctions, French rules can apply to transactions carried out in France, including transactions involving a foreign company acting here. These restrictions apply from the first euro: there is no €10,000 threshold for making funds or economic resources available to a designated person.
For AML/CFT obligations, the territorial position can be more nuanced for a gallery established abroad and present in France only for a temporary fair. A foreign gallery should not assume that its home-country procedures automatically displace French requirements. For a sale of €10,000 or more concluded on the booth, applying French identification standards is a prudent approach, and the position should be assessed in light of the gallery’s actual activities in France.
Exhibiting and selling as a gallery
Does bringing works into France for the fair raise customs issues?
For contemporary works, cultural-property import rules will often not be the main issue. Since 28 June 2025, however, EU rules have required an import licence for certain archaeological objects and parts of monuments, and an importer statement for other listed cultural goods created or discovered outside the EU that are more than 200 years old and worth €18,000 or more. Our overview of French Customs controls on artworks and collectibles explains the wider customs framework.
Commercial art fairs benefit from a specific rule. Where cultural goods are placed under temporary admission for presentation at a commercial art fair, goods that would otherwise require an import licence may be presented on the basis of an importer statement instead. If the goods are then to remain in the European Union after the fair, the ordinary import-licence requirement may apply.
When the works leave France, a work temporarily imported for the fair does not in principle require a French export certificate. The import and temporary-admission documentation should nevertheless be preserved.
Who pays the resale right when a gallery resells a work at the fair?
French law grants the artist a resale right (droit de suite) whenever an original work of graphic or plastic art is resold with an art-market professional acting as seller, buyer or intermediary. The right is borne by the seller. Responsibility for paying it lies with the professional involved in the sale or, where the sale takes place between two professionals, with the seller.
No royalty is due below €750. The rate decreases from 4% to 0.25% by price band, and the amount is capped at €12,500 per work. The first sale by the artist falls outside the scope. So does a resale made within three years of acquisition directly from the artist where the resale price does not exceed €10,000.
Can a gallery reproduce works in its catalogue and on social media?
Only with the authorisation of the artist or rights holder, unless a specific statutory exception applies. Under French law, reproducing a protected work without consent can infringe copyright. The specific catalogue exception is limited to judicial sales, while the press exception is confined to reproductions justified by immediate news reporting.
Neither exception provides a general licence for a gallery’s own booth catalogue, newsletters or social-media posts. Gallery representation and consignment agreements should therefore deal expressly with the image rights and copyright permissions needed for these uses.
Artists’ rights in France
Does French moral right protect a foreign artist whose work is shown in Paris?
Yes. French law protects an author’s name, authorship and the integrity of the work through moral rights that are perpetual, inalienable and imprescriptible. This can be particularly relevant where a foreign artist’s work is exhibited, altered, credited or reproduced in France.
The Cour de cassation has treated the French rules protecting the integrity of a work and vesting moral rights in its author as mandatory rules in France, regardless of the country in which the work was first disclosed. A foreign artist may therefore be able to rely on French moral rights against an alteration or misattribution occurring in France even where the contractual framework points to another law. Our Artists and Artist Estates practice advises foreign artists and rights holders on these issues.
Will I receive the resale right if my work is resold at the fair?
Nationals of an EU or EEA state benefit from the French resale right. Artists from other countries benefit where the law of their country grants an equivalent right to European artists. A non-European artist who has habitually resided in France and participated in French artistic life for at least five years may also apply to benefit from the French regime.
Artists and their estates should therefore check whether the nationality and reciprocity conditions are met before relying on the right. The professionals involved in the sale must provide the artist, or a collective management organisation for the resale right, with the information needed to calculate the sums due.
As part of its Art Market practice, Fournol & Associés advises foreign collectors, galleries, art advisers, artists and artist estates on French contract law, AML/CFT, customs and the international movement of artworks, authenticity, provenance and disputes. The Firm works in English and may be instructed directly or alongside foreign counsel. Contact the Firm.
Related sector
- Art Market: Fournol & Associés acts as French counsel for foreign collectors, galleries and art advisers in transactions, regulatory matters and disputes involving France.
- Artists and Estates: advice to foreign artists and artist estates on rights, contracts, authentication and disputes in France.
- Related expertise: Contract Law | AML/CFT | Customs Law | Import and Export of Works of Art | Authenticity and Art-Market Disputes
This publication provides general information on French law and does not constitute legal advice. Fournol & Associés is not affiliated with or endorsed by Art Basel.
