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The Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing welcomes news that the European Parliament has voted to approve a new Regulation to better tackle online harms — the Digital Services Act (DSA) — with with 539 votes in favour, 54 votes against and 30 abstentions.

The new rules will help prevent abuses on online marketplaces, including ticket resale sites. They include measures to ensure professional sellers are identifiable, prevent certain manipulative sales tactics, and require regular reporting to improve transparency for consumers.

Identifying and verifying professional sellers
Online marketplaces will be required to obtain essential information about third party professional sellers, from their name and contact details, to their bank details and ID, before traders are allowed to list tickets on the platform. They will also be required to make best efforts to assess whether the information is reliable and complete, and ensure that the seller’s name, contact and trading details appear on the listing, as well as conduct random checks to prevent the resurfacing of listings that contravene national laws.

Increased accountability for marketplaces
Whilst ticket resale platforms can claim to be exempt from liability for content provided by third parties, provided they are not active hosts, they could now be held responsible for tickets listed in contravention of national laws, where fans are led to believe that the ticket is provided by the platform itself or that the seller is acting under its control. As a result, resale platforms should make it clear throughout the buying process that the tickets listed are provided by a third party.

Prohibition of dark patterns
Dark patterns (user interfaces designed in such a way as to trick users into making certain decisions, such as “pop-ups” or giving prominence to specific choices) will be prohibited. As such, ticket resale sites will be banned from using design tricks that manipulate consumers.

Annual reporting
Online hosting platforms such as ticket resale sites will be required to produce easily comprehensible and publicly-available annual reports on any content moderation activities relating to infringements of the law or the platform’s terms and conditions. This will give an indication of the scale of harmful activity taking place – important in helping enforcement agencies and advertising partners such as Google comprehend the scope of the problem. The reporting measures will be coupled with a simplified notice and action procedure for illegal listings.

Increased oversight
Every Member State will be required to appoint a Digital Services Coordinator (DSC) to enforce the rules laid out in the DSA, with far-reaching powers of investigation, including to carry out on-site inspections, interview staff members and require the production of documents and information. Penalties for non-compliance can reach up to 6% of platforms’ global turnover.

The DSA will now go through the formal adoption procedures by the European Council before it is published in the EU Official Journal. It will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, and its provisions will mainly apply fifteen months after entry into force or from 1 January 2024, whichever comes later.

Despite COVID-19, the European secondary ticketing market was estimated to be worth €1.83bn in 2021, with predictions to grow to €2.29bn by 2023; money that is drained from consumers and the sports and cultural industries. FEAT has spent two years engaging with policy-makers over the DSA, including spearheading an open letter with other concerned groups. This called on the EU to compel online marketplaces to act responsibly and was signed by nearly 150 representatives throughout the cultural industries and was recognised by commissioners in charge of the DSA.

While pleased that the legislation has finally been passed, FEAT recognises that the text could have gone further and will continue to campaign for tougher legislation to prohibit profiteering on uncapped resale sites at the expense of fans and the live industry.

Neo Sala, Director of FEAT and Founder and CEO of Doctor Music, stated “FEAT welcomes the new Digital Services Act, a landmark legislation aiming to protect consumers online. We hope that it will help prevent manipulative and exploitative practices taking place on resale sites and pave the way for tougher laws to ban profiteering altogether.”

17 April 2019:- MEPs have today voted to outlaw the use of specialised software (“bots”) to circumvent ticket purchasing rules, including maximum buying limits. The move, which marks the first time the EU has directly addressed the issue of ticket resale, will also strengthen existing regulation by requiring resellers to declare if they are a professional seller.

Captured as part of an initiative to strengthen consumer rights and enforcement, the legislation sets the minimum standard by which Member States must abide, and will allow for more stringent provisions at national level, such as a complete ban on resale for profit. Where there are bot measures already in place, such as in the UK, the ruling will strengthen the hand of enforcement agencies, helping pave the way for a fairer ticketing market.

This is the first time that the world’s largest trading bloc has set a common standard for ticket resale in cultural and sports events. A harmonised approach will prove critical in dealing with scalping, as secondary ticketing companies often exploit the gaps between different countries’ legislation.

Bots enable scalpers to make multiple ticket purchases, pushing real consumers to the back of the queue. These tickets are then resold at ridiculously inflated prices on secondary ticketing platforms. A 2019 study of bot activity estimated that 42.2% of activity on primary ticketing platforms is attributable to bots compared to 56.9% human activity. The issue is only likely to worsen as technology improves: the number of sophisticated bots detected was 12.3% higher in 2019 than 2018.

Daniel Dalton MEP, member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group and rapporteur of the revised Unfair Commercial Practices Directive in which the new legislation is captured, said: “Everyone apart from touts lose out from bot bulk buying of tickets, real fans either are unable to see their favourite team or artist or forced to pay many times the face value price, whilst event organisers are seeing their purchasing limits flagrantly violated. So this first ever ban at a European level is an important first step, with the possibility to go further in future depending on how the ban works in practice.”

Sharon Hodgson MP, Member of Parliament for Washington and Sunderland West and Chair of the APPG on Ticket Abuse said: “It is welcome that the EU Parliament have today voted to ban bots, which harvest tickets from the primary market in order to sell for high profits on the secondary market. This new regulation harmonises Europe with existing UK law on bots, and also allows member states to strengthen existing legislation, which will protect consumers. Fans across the world must not be priced out by the secondary ticket market using parasitical methods to get tickets.”

Per Kviman and Virpi Imonnen at the European Music Managers Alliance (EMMA) said: “This is a positive step. The EU Parliament has recognised the growing public concern about consumer exploitation in the secondary ticketing market. However, the banning of “bots” is one small piece of the jigsaw. Tackling this issue requires a more comprehensive approach, and we hope there is potential to build upon this move.”

Johannes Ulbricht, lawyer for German Promoters Association BDKV added: “BDKV supports the initiative of FEAT, which is definitely a step into the right direction.”

Sam Shemtob and Katie O’Leary of FEAT commented: “We welcome the move to curb the use of bots in this first Europe-wide anti-touting law. As well as requiring professional sellers to identify themselves, it also enables member states to go further and potentially regulate the resale price of tickets.

“Most importantly, this represents the first step in harmonising regulation across Europe. This approach is critical as we know secondary ticketing companies like to exploit regulatory gaps. There is still much to be done and we will be campaigning for tougher legislation in the next parliamentary term.”

Representing promoters, managers, trade bodies and grassroots consumer action groups, FEAT raised awareness of the issue at EU level. This included helping propose text and coordinating lobbying for this legislation’s inclusion.

Outside of the UK, it follows the introduction of targeted bot legislation in the US, Ontario, South Australia and New South Wales.

Tag: EU

European Parliament approves new digital rules with major impact on secondary ticketing

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