[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 8, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E294-E295]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


          INTRODUCTION OF THE TICKET FEE DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1995

                                 ______


                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, February 8, 1995
  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce today, along with 
my colleagues, Mr. Condit, Mr. Moorhead, and Mr. Oxley, the Ticket Fee 
Disclosure Act of 1995. This legislation, if enacted, will provide 
American consumers appropriate and timely disclosure of convenience 
fees, service charges, and other amounts often added to the face value 
of entertainment and sporting event tickets, including huge profit 
markups by so-called ticket brokers and others who sell tickets on the 
secondary market. It also will result in a comprehensive report to the 
Congress from the Federal Trade Commission on practices by 
[[Page E295]] and the relationships between promoters, owners, and 
operators of facilities, performers, and sellers and resellers of 
entertainment and sporting event tickets, along with recommendations to 
achieve better ticket disclosure, information, access, and value for 
consumers.
  The number of entertainment and sporting event tickets sold in the 
past few years has escalated rapidly. Based on testimony our committee 
received last year, the number of such tickets sold annually easily 
exceed 2 billion. As ticket sales have increased, so too have the 
methods used to sell and market such tickets. Indeed, with the advent 
of the communications superhighway, sellers of entertainment tickets 
likely will create additional avenues for selling tickets that are not 
feasible today.
  This legislation does not inhibit these new and innovative approaches 
nor does it inhibit the growth of the entertainment and sporting 
industries or of the marketing and ticketing service industries that 
support them. This legislation creates no new regulations nor does it 
impose unreasonable burdens on business. Rather, this simple 
legislation merely seeks to inform the ordinary consumer who 
contemplates purchasing these tickets of any additional fees or charges 
that are added on to ticket prices.
  This legislation makes it unlawful for persons who sell or resell 
entertainment or sporting event tickets: First, to fail to disclose to 
the purchaser--prior to the purchase of any such ticket--any fee, 
charge, or other assessment to be imposed in excess of the face amount 
of the ticket, and second, to fail to have the amount of any such fee, 
charge, or assessment printed on the ticket or on a receipt evidencing 
any such ticket sale.
  Under the bill, this requirement will be enforced by the Federal 
Trade Commission, an independent agency that has authority over unfair 
and deceptive commercial practices under the Federal Trade Commission 
Act (15 U.S.C. 45, et seq.). As well, State attorneys general are 
empowered under the bill to enforce the requirement on behalf of 
affected residents in their States. In this regard, the bill parallels 
other commercial practices legislation developed by the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce during the past few years, including the Telephone 
Disclosure and Dispute Resolution Act, enacted in 1992, and the 
Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, enacted last 
year. Under the Federal Trade Commission Act, the FTC is authorized to 
issue cease and desist orders in appropriate cases and to impose civil 
penalties for each violation of the law.
  I also have modified last year's bill by adding an important 
provision that directs the Federal Trade Commission to conduct a study 
of ticketing practices, including an examination of relationships 
between and practices of various persons involved in entertainment and 
sporting events. I believe an indepth examination of ticketing 
practices by the FTC is clearly warranted, based on testimony and 
evidence presented to the Subcommittee on Transportation and Hazardous 
Materials at its September 29, 1994, hearing on this subject. For 
example, I have real concerns about the impact on ticket consumers of 
exclusive contracts between building owners and others that limit 
options of potential competing services. As well, I have many questions 
about the manner in which tickets are held back by many participants in 
the ticket food chain, so that consumers are denied any opportunity to 
purchase many tickets through conventional means--that is, the box 
office or through authorized ticket sellers--or are forced to pay 
exorbitant prices from ticket brokers or scalpers who mysteriously 
acquire the best seats in the house. If tickets are made available to 
the public, why are so many tickets simply unavailable to the normal 
consumer who cannot afford scalper's fees? This long-overdue report 
from the Commission should inform the Congress whether further action 
is necessary to provide consumers of entertainment tickets with better 
disclosure, information, access, and value.
  At the subcommittee's hearing last fall, representatives of consumer 
interests and of ticket sellers indicated their support for the 
disclosure provisions in the bill. Unfortunately, because of the press 
of other business, no further action was taken with respect to the 
legislation. I look forward to prompt consideration and enactment of 
this modest legislation so that American consumers will be better 
informed about add-on charges they pay for entertainment and sporting 
event tickets and so all of us will be informed about how to achieve 
better disclosure, information, access, and value for ordinary 
consumers who seek to purchase such tickets.


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