LONDON—Britain's artistic community is lobbying for a law that would require the payment of royalties on artists' works for 70 years after their deaths, as writers and musicians already receive, reports the Times of London. Leading auction houses and dealers are opposing the law, claiming it would be detrimental to Britain's £8.5 billion ($16.8 billion) art market.

Artists won the right to royalties across Europe in 2006, but the British government opted to not extend the benefit to dead artists. The government is now researching whether it should adopt the 70-year rule as well.

Joanna Cave, chief executive of the Design and Artists Copyright Society, which has collected £4.2million in royalties since 2006 for some 1,500 living artists, said extending it to dead artists would have limited impact, as the sum is limited to 4 percent of the sale and capped at €12,500 ($19,500).

Dealers fear the new rule would make the British art market less competitive globally. “We would simply be handing over a large part of our art market to New York or Switzerland on a plate," said Anthony Browne, chairman of the British Art Market Federation.