swissinfo.ch, 1.6.2015, Isabelle Eichenberger

As global prices for works of art continue to smash records, attention is focusing on the opaque workings of a market that escapes money laundering laws and where cash payments flourish and often little is known about vendors and buyers.

Free ports were created in Geneva in 1854 to house merchandise in transit. Today, however, 40% of products stored in the ports are cultural property. “In the free ports, quantities of cultural items are negotiated without ever leaving and become simple property titles,” says Andrea Raschèr, expert in art law. “There are even exhibition rooms, parallel arrangements which bear no relation to the purpose of these structures that were created with the intent of transiting merchandise, not storing it for decades.” Raschèr adds that more and more transactions are being conducted in cash “because a lot of people take their money out and keep it in the free ports”.

This is somewhat bothersome when one takes into account the fact that canton Geneva is 86% shareholder in the free ports. In its 2014 report, the Federal Audit Office concluded that “these exceptional customs zones are booming and are today worth CHF100 billion”. It recommended an increase in customs controls to deal with the “thorny cases of companies active in stocking artworks or precious metals which sometimes contravene the spirit of the law”.

Links:

www.swissinfo.ch/ger/kampf-gegen-geldwaescherei_transparenz-im-kunstmarkt--die-schweiz-kann-mehr-tun/41455898

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