FEAT welcomes Digital Services Act implementation from tomorrow

The Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing (FEAT) has hailed the EU’s forthcoming implementation of the Digital Services Act (DSA) from tomorrow (Saturday), which will concern all online platforms. 

The DSA’s inception will have major implications for online ticketing resale. The act has been designed to create a safer digital environment, with online marketplaces now subject to stricter due diligence and reporting requirements. This will be in place to improve transparency for buyers, with methods to encourage panic-buying outlawed.

The DSA was passed by the European Parliament in July 2022, with the regulations widely implemented from this year.

More specifically, the measures affecting ticket resale marketplaces include identifying and verifying professional sellers. Online marketplaces will be required to obtain information about third-party professional sellers before they can list tickets on a platform.

Ticket resale sites will also be banned from design choices to panic consumers into making decisions, such as ‘pop-ups’. Additionally, ticket resale sites will be required to produce publicly available annual reports on takedowns of ticket listings, to give an indication of the level of potential harmful activity.

Elsewhere, resale platforms will be increasingly held to account, with it made consistently clear throughout the buying process that the tickets are listed by a third party.

Each Member State of the EU is set to appoint a Digital Services Coordinator to enforce the regulations, with FEAT working with these newly appointed figures.

“This is a landmark moment for Europe’s live events sector,” said FEAT director Sam Shemtob. “Our priority now is to ensure that the new rules are enforced, with a clear process for removing illegal ticket listings as and when they appear. FEAT is looking forward to working with DSCs across the Member States to make this happen and lay the groundwork for a fairer, more transparent ticket-buying experience for consumers on the secondary market.”