Art.Trade has been involved in the development of the Indigenous Australian Art Commercial Code of Conduct. The project was funded initially by the Australia Council and was directed by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), Desart and the Association of Northern Kimberley and Arnhem Aboriginal Artists (ANKAAA).

Since October 2008 further development of the code has been undertaken by the Australia Council for the Arts and the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. A copy of the code can be found here.

For more information see the Indigenous Australian Art Commercial Code of Conduct.

The Code is intended to guide the Indigenous art industry in its commercial practice, covering industry issues relating to the production and sale of Indigenous artwork and intellectual property uses, for example when applied to merchandising and licensing agreements. It aims to improve fair and ethical practices in the Indigenous visual arts industry.

Art.Trade has been a member of the Reference Group for the process (now concluded). Our main comments were to stress the importance of buyers in the chain from artists to buyers, the role of ethical galleries and dealers and a need for the code to apply to all parts of the industry (with different sections tailored to different participants). We have of course pointed to our own Code of Ethics - but the Commercial Code of Conduct goes into considerably more detail and covers all elements of the market.