Ticketmaster Ireland has entered into a legal agreement with the country’s competition watchdog to address concerns raised during a lengthy investigation into the operation of ticketing services for live events in Ireland.
The Competition and Consumer Protections Commission (CCPC) has filed a High Court motion seeking to formalise the agreement and submitted papers on the matter earlier this week.
The watchdog has been investigating suspected breaches of competition law in ticketing since January 2017 and, as part of the wide-ranging probe, the CCPC has been looking into concerns of potentially anti-competitive conduct such as exclusive arrangements, rebates, and high service charges.
Ticketmaster has denied any breaches of competition law, but has agreed to address concerns raised in the investigation.
The terms of the agreement have yet to be revealed but are set to be published next week.
A CCPC spokesperson said: “The CCPC is applying to the High Court for an order pursuant to section 14B(2) of the Competition Act 2002, as amended.
“Ticketline Unlimited Company (trading as Ticketmaster Ireland) has denied breaching competition law but has nonetheless entered into an agreement with the CCPC in which Ticketmaster Ireland has given commitments to address the CCPC’s concerns arising from its investigation.
“In its application to the High Court, the CCPC is seeking to have the agreement between the CCPC and Ticketmaster Ireland made an order of the High Court.”
The legislation deals with prohibited conduct such as the abuse of a dominant market position and anti-competitive behaviour. It also allows the watchdog to apply to the High Court to have commitments made an order of the court, making any breach of the agreement by Ticketmaster a contempt of court.
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