New regulations could see whistleblowers against scalping receive a reward of up to NT$100,000 (US$3,181), the Ministry of Education’s Sports Administration said.
Authorities in local cities and counties should launch investigations within two months of whistle-blowers delivering all necessary documents, according to the Regulations on Rewards for Reporting Violations for Tickets at Sport Competitions and Events (運動賽事或活動票券違規案件檢舉處理及獎勵辦法), recently promulgated by the Sports Administration.
The regulations were announced to support the amended Sports Industry Development Act (運動產業發展條例).
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Amendments to the Sports Industry Development Act in December last year saw the addition of Article 24-1, which would punish ticket scalpers by mandating that they pay 10 to 50 times the price per ticket sold.
The administration said that ordering tickets or obtaining proof of ticket purchases via computers or other equipment could be punished with a prison sentence of up to three years, alongside a NT$3 million fine.
The reward would give whistleblowers 20 percent of any fines, up to NT$100,000.
Whistle-blowers would also be eligible to receive NT$100,000 if they report incidents of people obtaining tickets using false information.
The reward regulations also state that the jurisdiction of scalping incidents would go to local authorities holding the competition or event, and if events are held in multiple locations, the authorities of the first event location would oversee the case.
Reports may be in written or verbal form, and should be logged and recorded according to the regulations.
The regulations say that the whistle-blower should include their name, address, the Web site or organization’s name, the address of the offending organization, the location and time of the competition, or the event’s name.
The regulations say that whistle-blowers would not receive a cash reward if the incident they reported had been covered by the media or was already under investigation by law enforcement agencies.
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