Ms Clare McNamara:

I thank Deputy Stanton. I will try to work my way through the questions. There is nothing in the Bill that will stop dynamic pricing because that is a matter for the primary ticket seller. The Bill seeks to stop the secondary resale of tickets at a price above the original sale price. Dynamic pricing is set by the primary seller and there is nothing in the Bill to stop that. In the context of multiple event tickets or season tickets, the same applies. There is nothing in the Bill that prevents the sale of tickets for multiple events or seasonal tickets by a primary seller. Again, the Bill seeks to stop the resale of those tickets at a price above the original sale price.

On the enforcement and offshore websites, we are aware that this is a complex area. There is no doubt that the borderless nature of the Internet makes it very difficult to enforce restrictions on online activity, such as those in the Bill against businesses or individuals based in other countries. Deputy Stanton asked about legislation in other EU member states. I believe a small number of member states have similar legislation in place. Having spoken with officials in those countries and in EEA countries that prohibit or limit the resale of tickets above the original price, they have all acknowledged that while their legislation was reasonably effective in curtailing such resale within their national borders, it was less effective when it came to preventing resale by secondary sellers in other countries. It is a really complex area. There are other ways of dealing with it such as under the unfair commercial practices directive, which makes it a prohibited commercial practice to state or otherwise create the impression that one is selling something legally when it actually cannot be sold legally. This provision was used by the Norwegian authorities to prosecute a Norwegian reseller for selling tickets to the London Olympics, in contravention of the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006. The prosecution was appealed but it was upheld by the Court of Justice of the European Free Trade Association, EFTA, in December 2019. That, however, is a complex way of enforcing it. We recognise that this is not going to be an easy one to enforce when it comes to dealing with offshore sales.

The Deputy also asked about greenfield sites such as those for festivals. The organiser of the event is responsible for the sale of the tickets and is the primary seller. I am not quite sure that I understood the Deputy's question on multiple venue events.