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Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General

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Backgrounders

Ticket Sales Act details

The Ticket Sales Act will:

  • promote fairness for ticket buyers by banning bots that buy large quantities of tickets for resale purposes;
  • ban businesses from selling tickets that they don’t have or control to consumers;
  • establish clear rules for when ticket buyers are owed a refund
  • increase transparency about ticket prices, terms and conditions and whether it is a ticket reseller that is offering the ticket for sale;
  • establish enforcement and compliance tools to ensure the rules are followed;
  • provide a right to civil action for losses or damages as the result of a contravention of the legislation.

There will be exemptions for smaller scale events that are likely to have lower consumer demand and no significant ticket resale market. This will prevent unintended consequences for organizations that could be negatively affected from an operational or financial viability perspective if they were required to comply with the new rules.

The act will exempt ticket sales for events held in the following places, unless they are leased out for third party events:

  • all K-12 schools and post-secondary institutions, including those operated by First Nations;
  • places of public worship (e.g., churches, mosques);
  • places owned or operated by local government entities such as municipalities, regional districts and park boards, or by self-governing First Nations;
  • a general exemption is also established for movie ticket sales, as they are not live events and risks to consumers are low.

Consumer Protection BC will administer the act and play a role in monitoring and enforcement via a progressive compliance and enforcement model that provides a range of tools starting with education and voluntary compliance.