Ministry Creates New Law to Increase Transparency in the Art Market

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism declared a new law which will toughen the requirements for auction houses, art galleries, and individual art dealers on Thursday. The new law aims to increase transparency in the art market.

An article from the Korea JoongAng Daily reported that the new law comes amidst a series of high-profile forgery issues the past few years where the legitimacy of sold popular Korean paintings was questioned.

The new law will ask art galleries to register their businesses and the government will only allow the registration of art galleries that have exhibition facilities and a list of artists that they promote and supervise.

Auction houses will also have to get government's approval while individual art dealers have to advise the government regarding their operations. If they are discovered to be engaged in selling an artwork that has a questionable authenticity, their operating license could be canceled for a period of time.

The ministry also plans to implement the law in the latter part of 2017. However, to help art galleries in the country to improve their businesses and meet the requirements, the culture ministry will give two-year grace period which would allow the new law to not affect some institutions until the latter part of 2019.

Furthermore, the new rule will require art galleries, individual art dealers, and auction houses to produce and manage a database of the artworks that they have sold indicating important details regarding the piece. However, the culture ministry has concluded to make it optional to disclose the information of the buyer fearing that it could deter transactions in the Korean art market.

The report also indicated that in 2017, the government will launch an institution in charge of determining the authenticity of an artwork. A director of the ministry's Visual Arts and Design Division, Shin Eun Hyang stated that there are few professionals who can appraise the legitimacy of an artwork in the country, so the launch of the institution is aimed to improve the Korean art market in that aspect.