An online platform to report ticket scalping has been established to protect people’s rights to purchase tickets to events, the Ministry of Culture said yesterday as legislative amendments took effect.
The amendments to the Cultural and Creative Industry Development Act (文化創意產業發展法) were introduced following reports of rampant ticket scalping during several concerts after the roll-back of restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ministry said it would work with the National Police Agency, the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Ninth Investigation Corps, and local authorities and police departments to combat ticket scalping.
Photo: CNA
Any sale of tickets for arts and humanities events exceeding the set price, including by bartering or setting prerequisites for a purchase, would be considered scalping if the person making the sale would make a profit, the ministry said.
Ticket scalpers would be fined 10 to 50 times the value of any tickets sold, the ministry said.
Those found sweeping up tickets online using software or other methods outside the norm, including using falsified information, would be imprisoned for up to three years, fined NT$3 million (US$97,863) or both, it said.
The ministry said it is working with concert organizers and its efforts have resulted in the organizers for concerts by South Korean performers The Boyz, (G)I-dle and Taeyeon implementing strict real-name systems for tickets.
The ministry said it would also ask the Taipei and Kaohsiung city governments to implement real-name systems for concerts at the five major venues in their jurisdictions: Taipei Arena, Taipei Music Center, K-Arena, Kaohsiung National Stadium and Kaohsiung Music Center.
Not all concerts would require implementation of real-name systems, the ministry said.
Venue managers should consider including assessments of the possibility of incidents affecting law and order at events during the application process, it said.
The Ninth Investigation Corps said it would assist online ticket platforms with efforts to shore up digital security.
It would be easier to deter and track ticket sweeping if systems were monitoring the platforms, it said.
Minister of Culture Shih Che (史哲) said that legal proceedings were “the last resort,” and the ministry hoped that organizers and online platforms would have sufficient safeguards to deter ticket scalping.
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