Tag: France

French Consumer Protection Agency DGCCRF Hands Down €150,000 in Fines for Misleading Ticket Resale Practices

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French consumer protection agency DGCCRF has fined Global Service Concierge and its parent company WSI Live SA, €150,000 for misleading resale practices. 

The investigations, carried out by its National Investigation Department, revealed that the two companies, which operate ticket resale platforms live-booker.fr and next-concert.com,  were tricking consumers into believing that they were offering resale tickets with the authorisation of the promoters, whereas no authorisation was obtained. In France, it is illegal for tickets to be resold without the authorisation of the promoter under Article 313-6-2 of the French Criminal Code.

The news continues a pattern of Global Services Concierge’s malpractice in secondary ticketing, after the company was ordered to compensate PRODISS €100,000 for infringing French anti-scalping legislation in November 2020. The judgment expressly prohibited the company from offering resale services that sell tickets without promoter authorisation.

The sanctions against Global Services Concierge are an important moment in the fight against ticket scalpers and demonstrate the impact appropriate legal regulation can have on the uncapped secondary market. 

French Constitutional Council Rejects Appeal By Viagogo and Ticketbis

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The French Constitutional Council has rejected an attempt by Viagogo and Ticketbis to contest a law that criminalises the resale of tickets for events without the authorisation of the promoter.

Currently, touts are liable to pay fines of up to €30,000 for touting at events that they have not received permission from the event organiser or rightsholder to sell tickets.

The Council commented: “by introducing the contested provisions, the legislature has, on the one hand, intended to prevent disturbances to public order in certain events, particularly sporting events“.

“Indeed, the implementation of certain security measures, such as the administrative or judicial prohibitions of access to these events or the control of the placement of the audience, which rely on the identification of persons purchasing these titles, may be hampered by the resale of access rights“.

The Council also maintained that it wanted to guarantee that consumers had access to sporting, music and cultural events.

The decision has been welcomed by France’s live music association Prodiss, several other live music organisations, and the French Prime Minister.

Malika Séguineau, Director of French Live Music Association at Prodiss, commented: “This decision strongly reinforces the French law. The law protects the consumers, the fans, the artists and the promoters, against the drifts engendered by the illicit resale of tickets. We welcome today’s decision, especially as Prodiss, alongside several promoters, have parallelly filed a criminal action against Viagogo. The judge is soon to be appointed. Our legal actions go alongside our campaign www.fanpasgogo.fr”

The move has been supported by the French Prime Minister and several major sport and live music organisations, including: Association Nationale des Ligues de Sport Professionnel (ANLSP), the Fédération Française de Rugby (FFR), the Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT), the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), GIP France2023 , the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), Première Ligue, Société des Auteurs, Compositeurs et Editeurs de Musique (SACEM), Syndicat national du spectacle musical et de variété (Prodiss), and Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

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