Amid high prices on the secondary ticket market, Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection Stefanie Hubig (SPD) wants to legally limit mark-ups on tickets for sports and cultural events and introduce a price cap.
“We need a clear price limit for ticket resales,” Hubig told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung on Tuesday. Specifically, the minister is calling for ticket resale platforms to be allowed to charge no more than 20 per cent above the original ticket price, with an absolute maximum mark-up of €20. A draft bill is already in the works.
Other countries have “long had laws in place to combat rip-offs on the secondary ticket market. It is high time we followed suit,” Hubig stressed. She justified her proposal by pointing to excessive prices online and outside event venues. According to the minister, traders deliberately buy up tickets in large quantities and then resell them at sometimes extremely high mark-ups.
“This is a rip-off,” Hubig said. “And it comes at the expense of clubs, event organisers and artists, many of whom also offer affordable tickets so that people with smaller budgets can attend.”
The draft legislation, known as the Tickets Protection Act (Ticketschutzgesetz), has been completed and is already undergoing coordination within the government, the minister said. “My goal is for us to work together on this and for the law to enter into force before next summer’s sports and concert season,” Hubig added.
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