France's Senate Commission on the French Art Market and its Attractiveness on 7 March 2018 dominated by Artprice's figures and Artprice's demands

Having studied the minutes of the discussions held by the Senate Commission concerning the Legal Attractiveness and Competitiveness of the French Art Market, Artprice notes that the entire debate on 7 March 2018 was largely structured around Artprice's market statistics and demands (available on online at the Senate's website).

Catherine Morin-Desailly, Chairman of the Committee, opened the meeting by quoting Artprice:
"According to Artprice, France generated 5.3% of global auction turnover [on Fine Art] in 2017, in a context of strong recovery after two years of slowdown. Our country is far behind the top three marketplaces, China and the US (with roughly 30% each) and the UK with roughly 20%".

The SYMEV (France's National Union of Voluntary Auction Sales Operators), which represents nearly all the auction operators in France, described France's system of auction market supervision by the Conseil des Ventes Volontaires (CVV - Council of Voluntary Sales, France's auction market oversight authority) in the following terms: "... our regulatory systems impose obstacles. Trust the professionals! The existing oversight system regarding the sums invested, established since 2001, is totally archaic; it penalizes our competitiveness and attractiveness".

The SYMEV's critique of the Council of Voluntary Sales at the meeting of the Senate Commission is unambiguous. The following strongly-worded text is available on the Senate's website:

"The French art market is quite capable of defending its position, but the Council of Voluntary Sales, whose existence was justified in 2001 when it was created, has become an outdated supervisory body for us. This was already concluded two years ago in the report by Messrs. Herbillon and Travert on behalf of the Parliamentary Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education calling for regulatory reform.

The existence of this Council of Voluntary Sales adds no additional security to the French art market compared with those of New York or London. If today's buyers need guarantees, it is up to the auction operators to provide them.

We cannot allow scandals such as those that have emerged in recent years to undermine confidence in our public art market. We must create our own system of self-regulation to ensure that questionable objects can no longer access the French market. The Council of Voluntary Sales should only deal with "current" regulatory breaches, which are rare but nevertheless detrimental to our reputation".