European governments and the European Parliament agreed to apply a sliding scale to award artists a maximum of €12,500 (about £7670) on resales of artworks over €3000 (£1840).
Concessions won by the British government means that measures will not have to be implemented in the UK until January 1, 2006, with a further six-year introductory period before the full range of measures have to be adopted.
EU give final approval to droit de suite
The long debate over droit de suite, the artists resale levy, is over after the European Union finally ratified the measure in Brussels last week.