About the author: Emma Jones is a writer based in the UK. Her published work includes reviews, criticism and essays, often with a focus on photography.
Picture The Scene
I am on holiday in Paris, visiting the galleries. I spend a lot of my time walking in a type of heat-induced noctambulism, both impressed and mildly perturbed by the confidence of the Parisian wait staff. It’s in Saint Germain-des-Prés that I find it. A colour lithograph that seems to get to the heart of my time here. To see it on my kitchen wall back in the UK would mean to be transported back to the banks of the Seine. A splash of reds, yellows and greens that are reminiscent of the poplar trees, the baking sun, and the jammy peaches I pick up from the food stall in the mornings.
The woman working in the gallery carefully wraps my print in brown paper and hands me the invoice. My French is bad, and I don’t think to ask about how to get it home. It’s only some time afterwards, when I am back in the 18th arrondissement, that the cold shower of bureaucracy hits me. A world of customs procedures, art shipping, and a ticker-tape parade of red. Of the many headaches caused by the UK leaving the European Union in 2020, the import of artworks from the EU is a protracted dull ache.
Paris, Photo by MSMondadori/Shutterstock
Post Brexit Changes
Some context. Back in the mid-2000s I was working in art logistics from a warehouse just off the Old Kent Road. The artworld that I had understood from visiting galleries and museums is not the same as the one which happens at the coalface. In many ways, though, it was more interesting. I was introduced to a whole network of truck drivers, airport staff, and customs officials who get things where they are supposed to be. I felt as if I was a part of this global system of interconnectivity, participating in something hidden but important.
Back then, shipping within the EU was easy. Artworks were considered to be in ‘free circulation’, which meant that they could be imported between countries without the need to pay import taxes, or to wait for customs clearance. While this is still the case when moving artworks within the EU, Brexit has led to the largest change to the UKs customs landscape in a generation. Today, if you purchase an artwork that is above £135 in value and bring it into the UK, import duties and taxes will be payable.
There are two main areas within art shipping that have been impacted most heavily. The first is the application of VAT payments to the importing of goods. The second is the paperwork required for the customs procedure itself, which involves a kind of Kafkaesque engagement with the HMRC website. Although I’ve been out of the art shipping world for some time by the time I find my beautiful print, I am sure that I can still navigate it, scowling at my phone in a cafe as I return to the same web pages over and over in a seemingly infinite loop.
In the end, I give up and message my old manager to see if he could shed some light on the new processes. Or, at the very least, see if he’d offer me a discount if I had to engage a shipping agent.
Introduction To Art Shipping
As is very patiently explained to me, there are various ways to approach the shipping of artworks from the EU to the UK. Each of these will have different pros and cons. I am advised not to do it myself. ‘Always the salesman’, I think.
The more my old manager and I talk, however, the more I am convinced that working with either an agent or a courier may be the best way forward. I share this knowledge with you, then, as an introduction to the world of art shipping rather than a guide to doing it yourself. I’ve included two options: working with a courier (e.g. FedEX/DPD) or a specialist organisation (e.g. Constantine/Masterpiece).
The latter is likely the best choice if you have purchased an expensive or large artwork, or if you want a guarantee that it will arrive on a certain date (I have a distinct memory, here, of organising a work of art to be collected from a client’s house in the UK to their home in Germany for a dinner party). FedEX and DPD are more affordable, but, as they rely on you to complete a lot more of the paperwork, there’s also more potential for human error. This could lead to you getting charged the incorrect amount of VAT, or your parcel getting held up at customs.
Working With An Art Shipper
The good news, according to my old manager, is that things have mostly settled post-Brexit, and systems are now working much more smoothly, even with the concurrent introduction of a new customs system. I am given a soft deadline for around a week turnaround for shipping a painting from EU-UK depending on the country being shipped from. An art shipper will also pack the work, for an additional fee.
One key thing here is that each country in the EU will have specific rules around the export of cultural goods, particularly those that are historic. It’s always worth checking with a local shipping company (in the country the work is being shipped from) to see if any additional paperwork is required. In Italy, for example, you’ll need an export licence if your artwork is more than 70 years old, and worth more than 13,500 EURO.
If you’ve purchased a work from a gallery, then they should provide you with a commercial invoice. This will likely include their EORI number – a type of identification number for businesses that import / export goods across borders. However, if you’re shipping from a personal collection then it is also possible to export as a private individual without the need for this.
You’ll also be asked for a valuation of the artwork, which you can take from your sales invoice. If this isn’t possible (e.g. an artwork has been in your possession for a long time, and so you no longer have the original receipt from the sale) be sure to have your work valued prior to the shipping – auction houses will often do this. Using this value, and other factors such as shipping costs and insurance, an art shipper will work out the true customs value of your artwork.
Working With A Courier
Working with a courier means doing a lot of the paperwork yourself, and a courier company is likely to request that you include the following:
A commercial invoice – a meaty document which asks for sender and receiver details, the price paid for the work of art in the local currency, a goods description, the weight of the package and the reason for shipping. Customs officials love an abbreviation, and there are plenty to be aware of when shipping an artwork with a courier. In the ‘reason for shipping’ section, you may want to provide a Customs Procedure Code, which outlines the correct clearance process required. If an artwork is brought into the UK permanently, for example, you may want to use ‘10’ for permanent dispatch/export. More on those here.
You’ll also need to include an incoterm – this is an abbreviation that is used to determine who is responsible for the risk on the shipment. There are loads of these, but the most common one is probably DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid) where the seller (i.e. the gallery) assumes the risk and the cost of transportation, but not the duties or taxes that may be imposed by the destination. If you are shipping yourself, then probably the best incoterm to use is DDP (Delivered Duty Paid), where you organise the shipment, insure the goods and take care of any customs duties and taxes incurred in the destination country. A courier may also ask you to confirm the commodity code or HS code of your artwork. HS codes are what designates the content inside a certain package. HS codes are slightly shorter than the 10 digit commodity codes, but use the same numbers. As my work is a lithograph, it falls under the HS code 97029000. There’s a helpful code finder here.
Other things to include:
Proof of value – a receipt from the gallery or artist you purchased the artwork from (send a copy, rather than the original).
An air waybill – outlines the key details of your shipment including the number of items, a goods description, and weight. Ensure that this matches the details on your commercial invoice.
How Much Vat Will I Need To Pay?
The amount of Value Added Tax (VAT) paid at the point of import differs depending on what you are bringing into the country. The standard rate is 20%, and is based on the value of the charges payable on importation into the UK – i.e. your customs value. The cost of this will be built into your quote from the art shipping company. When working with a courier, it’s likely that they will just pay the import VAT and then charge it back to you after the goods arrive.
However, there are exceptions (of course). In fact, if you’re permanently importing a work of art, then it will likely benefit from being both duty free and entitled to a reduced 5% rate of VAT. Lithographs count, but only those that have been printed in a limited number and excluded from mechanical or photomechanical processes. Paintings, signed and numbered photographs (but only up to 30 prints), and original sculptures also benefit from the reduced rate. HMRC has some good advice on this, which you can find here.
An Aside – Bonded Warehouses
If you aren’t fussed about having your work on the wall straight away, or if you’re purchasing an artwork as a future investment, you might want to look into storing your artwork at a bonded warehouse (as made famous in Christopher Nolan’s film Tenet). These in-between spaces are kind of a purgatory for art – a place where import rates don’t apply. This includes some mind-bending paperwork, so I’d recommend reaching out to an art shipper directly if you’re interested in pursuing this option.
In Praise Art Logistics
By the time my old manager and I stop chatting, it is nearing dusk. I have a tension headache. I also feel I returned to the background labour that keeps the cogs turning on a global network of trade. Logistics remains to be something of an unsung hero within the art world. It can make or break a museum exhibition installation, but it is also an intrinsic part of the purchasing process for individuals buying art. Without some understanding of this often obscure and complex world, artworks risk being held up at airports, or could be partial to hefty fines.
Understandably, figuring out how you are going to get your artwork home is a much less enjoyable process than picking out a beautiful painting. There’s that famous quote about death and taxes – but in the arts, it’s administration that’s a mundane necessity for beauty.