Concertgoers in Malaysia may be required to use their identification cards when purchasing tickets under a proposed measure to curb ticket scalping and the resale of tickets at excessive prices.
Deputy Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Dr Fuziah Salleh said the government was studying the possibility of introducing a dedicated legal framework to address ticket scalping, as there are currently no specific laws targeting the practice.
“We will also study whether we can use identification cards or require buyers’ names when purchasing tickets. This could mean tickets cannot be bought for other people, potentially preventing them from being resold at higher prices,” she said in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday.
Fuziah was responding to Datuk Mohd Isam Mohd Isa (BN-Tampin), who asked about the status of efforts to draft specific legislation against ticket scalping, weaknesses in existing laws and when the proposed legislation might be tabled.
She said the ministry was holding engagement sessions with event organisers and conducting comparative studies of laws in other countries to identify suitable measures.
“The ministry takes ticket scalping seriously because it involves reselling tickets at higher and sometimes unreasonable prices.
“This not only forces consumers to pay excessive prices but also exposes them to fraud risks when purchasing tickets from unofficial sellers,” she said.
Fuziah said Section 15(1) of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 (Act 723) provides the minister and ministry with a basis to introduce regulations, but further study was needed to determine an effective mechanism to tackle scalping.
The ministry is examining approaches adopted in countries and territories including Australia, Ireland, Canada, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore.
Among the measures under consideration are establishing a specific definition of ticket scalping, determining which activities should be regulated and introducing mechanisms to prevent bulk ticket purchases.
Fuziah said large-scale purchases, whether carried out using automated bots or by individuals, could create opportunities for tickets to be resold at inflated prices.
She added that existing anti-profiteering regulations could not be directly applied to ticket scalping because calculating profiteering requires sales data covering a three-year period.
This poses a challenge for event tickets, which are typically sold for one-off occasions.
“The regulations cannot be applied directly to ticket scalping because these events are one-off in nature. For profiteering cases, we need to issue a notice and obtain sales data covering three years,” she said.
