We believe more needs to be done to reform the ticketing market by giving properly licensed, responsible secondary operators the right to buy and re-sell tickets without unfair restrictions (as consumers can) and introducing more transparency into the primary market. This would produce a well-regulated, free-market environment similar to that in the United States which is favourably regarded.
The UK has seen significant movements in policy within the secondary ticketing space in the past two years. Recent regulatory and policy updates on ticketing issues include:
- 6 September 2018 – Business Companion: Trading Standards Law Explained – The Sale & Resale of Tickets guide [Read more here]
- 13 June 2018 – The House of Lords agreed to the Order by the Secretary of State to ban bots. [Read more here]
- 15 February 2018 – The UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) updated existing guidance for secondary ticketing websites.’ [Read more here]
- 19 January 2018 – The UK Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee announced a new inquiry into ‘Live Music’ which seeks to review the growth of the secondary ticketing market. [Read more here]
- 28 November 2017 – The Competition and Markets Authority released an update on its work with the live events industry surrounding the application of unfair terms law to ticketing T&Cs. [Read more here]
- 13 March 2017 – The Government responded to the May 2016 Waterson report and accepted his recommendations in full. [Read more here]
- 26 May 2016 – The UK Government published an independent report by Warwick University Professor Michael Waterson which supported the secondary ticketing market, albeit with some regulatory changes. [Read more here]
- May 2016 – The UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport released a research paper – Online Secondary Facility User Survey – to identify web users. [Read more here]
- May 2008 – The Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform introduced guidance on the UK Regulations implementing the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. [Read more here]
