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Draft of ticket touting bill submitted to Commission

The Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Bill 2020 has been notified to the European Commission.

As the primary and secondary sale of event tickets is now mainly conducted online, the bill's provisions will impinge on information society services involving the sale of tickets.

Therefore, the bill comes within the scope of the Information Society Directive (EU) 2015/1535, and must be submitted for assessment of compatibility with EU law and the internal market.

Amendments

In July 2018, the Government agreed to support the Private Members’ Prohibition of Above-cost Ticket Touting Bill 2017 at second stage in Dáil Éireann and approved a number of amendments to the bill proposed by business minister Heather Humphreys.

The bill concluded second stage in February 2019.

On 29 January, the Government approved a number of further amendments to the bill, including to change the original title, and the submission of a draft of the bill, as amended, to the European Commission.

Change

The text of the bill notified to the European Commission is a working draft approved by Government for the purpose of notification to the EU Commission.

While the amended bill retains the core provision of the Private Members’ bill prohibiting the sale of tickets above their original sale price, a change to its title was considered necessary as the amendments approved by Government in July 2018 and January 2020 meant that the bill’s original title no longer represented an adequate statement of its expanded contents.