Music News

European Union close to adopting new pro-consumer ticketing practices 

In the very early morning hours on Saturday, European Union legislators agreed to language to be included in the Digital Services Act, described as “a regulation designed to create a safer and fairer online environment, including over ticket resale abuses.” 

Some details are still being finalized, including the exact responsibilities that will be placed on search engines, including Google, to make sure the new regulations are applied and upheld, but the language as approved is pretty striking — and promising. 

Among the provisions in the act, including requiring secondary ticket sellers to “act responsibly,” making sure the information they post about a given event or performer is reliable. This will be confirmed through random spot checks, although the repercussions for failing to conduct the checks or for providing bad information has not yet been established. 

Further, sellers will be prohibited from using manipulation tactics that would pressure would-be ticket buyers into making a purchase, like suggesting a large group of people are looking at the same ticket at the same time. 

Additionally ticket scalpers would only be able to list the tickets they’ve purchased after they’ve provided essential business information to marketplaces. The marketplaces, in turn, must do their best and put forth an effort to verify the information provided. Secondary sellers also will have to check for tickets that were placed up for sale illegally. 

The smallest marketplaces will be exempted from verifying vendors and conducting spot checks according to the preliminary language, but marketplaces that employ more than 50 people and up will be required to abide by the regulations. 

The language — on which lawmakers worked for 16 hours, ending around 1:30 a.m. on April 23 — was welcomed by the European Parliament and Council along with negotiators. The belief is that the act will help protect consumers while reigning in abusive practices. 

Sam Shemtob, director of the Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing (FEAT), says his organization “cautiously welcome(s) news of measures to be placed on secondary ticketing marketplaces to clean up the Wild West in which they have operated so far. The devil will be in the detail, but we hope the new requirements for vetting traders and publishing basic information about the seller will enable fans and event organizers to make informed decisions.” 

There’s broad support for the act, for which FEAT has been working with EU regulators for two years. The organization also collected signatures from 150 representatives from across the performing arts world, including pop, ballet, theater, comedy and opera. 

The new regulations won’t take effect immediately but will first need to be finalized on the “technical level” before Parliament and Council provide their approval. After that, the act will be published in the EU Official Journal and the act will come into force 20 days later. Tech firms will be given four months to get ready to enforce the new regulations, while smaller organizations (less than 45 million users) will have 15 months, or until January 1, 2024, whichever is later, to be prepared to comply with the regulations. 

Will this translate to action of a similar nature in the U.S. and Canada? Stay tuned.

Amber Healy

I write about music policy and lawsuits because they're endlessly fascinating.

Amber Healy has 517 posts and counting. See all posts by Amber Healy

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