Higher need for industry self-regulation and consumer awareness

Question

Mr Lim Biow Chuan: To ask the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth whether the Government will consider regulating the organisation of concerts and other events to ensure that ticket charges paid by consumers will be secured in the event of a cancellation of the concert or event.

Response

Acting Minister Lawrence Wong: Currently, the purchase of tickets for concerts and other events is covered under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act. This provides recourse to consumers who are aggrieved by unfair practices to pursue civil action through the Small Claims Tribunal.

Most concert tickets in Singapore are currently sold through Sistic, which is the ticketing agent with the main share of our local market. Sistic retains the revenues from ticket sales for most events until they are over, making exceptions only for event promoters with a proven track record. This practice allows Sistic to provide refunds should there be a cancellation. The private consortium operating the Sports Hub has recently introduced a new ticketing system called Sports Hub Tix, which will also adopt a similar practice as Sistic.

For these reasons, there may not be a need to introduce new regulatory measures at this stage. Instead, the preferred approach is to push more on industry self-regulation and to raise consumer awareness. In this regard, the Consumer Association of Singapore, CASE, has been actively educating consumers about the importance of checking terms and conditions when buying concert tickets.