The legislature’s Internal Administration Committee passed the first reading of a proposed amendment to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) increasing penalties for ticket scalping.
The proposed amendment would increase the fine from NT$18,000 to NT$30,000 for those who buy transportation or entertainment tickets without intending to use them and instead resell them for profit.
Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) and National Police Agency Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) both attended the legislative committee meeting.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs
Independent Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋), Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) and Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), and other lawmakers proposed expanding the definition of “ticket scalping” to cover medical services, hospitality, leisure and merchandise.
Some of the categories proposed by lawmakers are already covered by the Development of the Cultural and Creative Industries Act (文化創意產業發展法) and the Sports Industry Development Act (運動產業發展條例), Liu said.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare and Ministry of Transportation and Communications should each draft specific laws to avoid giving police an overly broad task, she said.
Listing all the different types of tickets banned from scalping in one law could result in some of them being missed, she added.
The committee also passed a resolution clarifying that the Social Order Maintenance Act addresses minor contraventions, but scalpers who obtain substantial profits and harm consumer interests would face criminal penalties.
The resolution said that authorities should address scalping issues and propose legal revisions within two months.
The committee also approved two other proposed amendments to the act.
One would raise the maximum fine for noise disturbances at night to NT$10,000 from NT$6,000.
The other would raise the penalty for following someone and continuing to do so after being told to stop from NT$3,000 to NT$30,000 to address stalking and harassment incidents.
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