{"version":"1.9","identifier":"e4618851-fcf5-454b-9a0d-89c645ad59df","language":"en-US","title":"Germany's Hubig drafts a cap on ticket resale: 20% or €20 over face value, whichever is lower","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://567politics.com/news/germany-hubig-ticket-resale-price-cap-ticketschutzgesetz-viagogo-november-2026","datePublished":"2026-11-11T02:28:08.451572Z","dateModified":"2026-11-11T02:28:57.631348Z","authors":["567 Politics staff"],"excerpt":"The justice minister wants the law in force before next summer. Promoters want takedown duties too; Viagogo tells lawmakers it backs a free secondary market.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/e4618851-fcf5-454b-9a0d-89c645ad59df/6e6182bf509a2ea04c77f55911d157f3.jpg","keywords":["de"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"Germany's Hubig drafts a cap on ticket resale: 20% or €20 over face value, whichever is lower","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"The justice minister wants the law in force before next summer. Promoters want takedown duties too; Viagogo tells lawmakers it backs a free secondary market.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By 567 Politics staff · Published November 11, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/e4618851-fcf5-454b-9a0d-89c645ad59df/6e6182bf509a2ea04c77f55911d157f3.jpg","caption":"Stefanie Hubig, Germany's federal minister of justice and consumer protection · Olaf Kosinsky via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE","accessibilityCaption":"Stefanie Hubig, Germany's federal minister of justice and consumer protection","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"Stefanie Hubig, Germany's federal minister of justice and consumer protection · Olaf Kosinsky via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Germany's justice and consumer protection minister, Stefanie Hubig, wants to cap what resellers can charge for concert and sports tickets. Under her draft \"Ticketschutzgesetz\" (ticket protection law), a resold ticket could cost at most 20 percent or 20 euros more than its original price, whichever is lower. \"Wir brauchen eine klare Preisgrenze für den Weiterverkauf\" (We need a clear price limit for resale), she said in [a statement published by her ministry](https://www.bmjv.de/SharedDocs/Zitate/DE/2026/1110_Min_Ticketzweitmarkt.html) on Tuesday.\n\nThe draft is finished and is now being negotiated within the federal government, Hubig said. Her aim is for the law to take effect \"noch vor dem nächsten Sport- und Konzertsommer\" (before next summer's sports and concert season). She first described the plan in an interview with the [Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung](https://www.noz.de/lebenswelten/geld-verbraucher/artikel/abzocke-bei-ticketboersen-justizministerin-hubig-will-preisdeckel-51718969).\n\nConcert promoters and consumer advocates welcomed the cap but said it will only work if platforms are forced to enforce it. The resale platform Viagogo has told lawmakers it wants a \"free and independent secondary market.\" The question now is whether the coalition of the CDU/CSU and the [SPD](https://567politics.com/parties/germany/spd) can agree on the text in time.\n\n## What the draft would change\n\nThe core of the plan is the price cap. For a ticket with a face value of 50 euros, 20 percent is 10 euros, so the resale limit would be 60 euros. For a 268.75-euro ticket, 20 percent would be 53.75 euros, so the 20-euro limit applies instead and the most a reseller could ask is 288.75 euros. In practice, the 20-euro limit governs every ticket priced above 100 euros.\n\nHubig, a member of the SPD, framed the cap in plain terms. \"Das ist fair, verständlich und leicht zu kontrollieren\" (That is fair, understandable and easy to monitor), she said in the ministry statement. \"Andere Länder haben längst Gesetze gegen die Abzocke auf dem Ticketzweitmarkt. Es ist höchste Zeit, dass wir nachziehen\" (Other countries have long had laws against rip-offs on the secondary ticket market. It is high time we caught up). She added that the law would also be \"a concrete contribution to making life more affordable.\"\n\nPeople close to the justice ministry described other parts of the draft to [BR24, the news service of Bavarian public broadcaster BR](https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/ende-der-abzocke-ticketschutzgesetz-noch-vor-sommer-2027,VaZ7SbW):\n\n* Buyers who pay more than the cap would have a claim to get the difference back from the seller. Sellers would therefore always have to show the original price.\n* A new category of \"geschützte Tickets\" (protected tickets) would let organizers set binding conditions on where tickets can be resold and at what price. Buyers would then know in advance how they could resell, for example if illness kept them from attending.\n* So-called short sales, where sellers list tickets they do not yet own, often before official sales begin, would be allowed only if the organizer permits them.\n\nThe cap would apply to all resales, not only to online exchanges, the justice ministry told [WDR, the public broadcaster for North Rhine-Westphalia](https://www1.wdr.de/kultur/ticketpreise-zweitmarkt-deckelung-100.html). A fan who sells a ticket privately through classified ads, or as a paper ticket, would also have to respect the limit. The ministry has not yet said how that would be checked, WDR reported.\n\nThe draft has not been published. Its final wording could still change as other ministries weigh in, and it would then need the approval of the cabinet and the Bundestag.\n\n## The Oasis example\n\nPromoters point to the recent sale of tickets for Oasis's three Munich shows in July 2027 to show the size of the markups. The concerts at the Allianz Arena sold out within a few days. Regular tickets cost at most 268.75 euros in the official sale, according to the concert industry association BDKV, as reported by BR24. Even while the official sale was running, the BDKV said, tickets appeared on Viagogo for 1,832 euros, nearly seven times as much.\n\n**Highest-priced Oasis Munich ticket: face value, proposed legal limit and a Viagogo listing**\n\nShows for July 2027 at the Allianz Arena. The legal limit is the face value plus 20 euros, because 20 percent would be more than 20 euros.","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"<table><tr><th>Price</th><th>Euros</th></tr><tr><td>Official face value</td><td>€268.75</td></tr><tr><td>Limit under the draft</td><td>€288.75</td></tr><tr><td>Listing on Viagogo</td><td>€1,832</td></tr></table>","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Source: [BDKV figures and justice ministry plan, via BR24](https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/ende-der-abzocke-ticketschutzgesetz-noch-vor-sommer-2027,VaZ7SbW)\n\nUnder the draft, the Viagogo price in that example would be unlawful. The BDKV's Johannes Everke told [the trade publication MusikWoche](https://musikwoche.de/live/justizministerin-hubig-will-20-euro-preisdeckel-fuer-zweitmarkt-tickets/) that tickets on Viagogo are offered for \"up to 16 times\" their original price.\n\nThe organizers of the Oasis shows had used a lottery, emailed ticket codes, a price limit and a list of authorized resale outlets, BR24 reported. Irregular and partly fraudulent offers still appeared on Viagogo as soon as sales began, according to the BDKV.\n\n## Support from promoters and consumer groups, with conditions\n\nThe BDKV welcomed the plan. \"Wir begrüßen den Vorstoß von Bundesjustizministerin Hubig ausdrücklich. Eine gesetzliche Preisobergrenze ist längst überfällig\" (We expressly welcome Justice Minister Hubig's initiative. A legal price cap is long overdue), Everke said, according to MusikWoche. He said the law must also stop fraudulent practices on such platforms. That requires, besides price caps, \"klare Transparenzpflichten, eine eindeutige Identifizierung der Verkäufer und verbindliche Verfahren, um irreführende oder unzulässige Angebote schnell zu entfernen\" (clear transparency duties, clear identification of sellers and binding procedures to remove misleading or illegal offers quickly).\n\nThe BDKV wants a \"notice and takedown\" process, Everke told BR24. Platforms like Viagogo would have to give organizers a contact for reporting fraudulent offers and would have to take those offers down within 30 minutes. The association estimates that about 30 percent of ticket buyers have already come across fraudulent offers. It also estimates that more than 70 percent of ticket resales are commercial, BR24 reported.\n\nThe Bavarian consumer advice center called regulation \"überfällig\" (overdue), BR24 reported. It said socially fair prices are being destroyed on the secondary market and tickets are sold for events that do not yet exist. But it said lasting protection depends on effective enforcement as well as a price ceiling.\n\nArtists have pushed for a law for months. In an [open letter in May 2026](https://www.promusikverband.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Offener-Brief_Ticketzweitmarkt-Gegen-Wucher-und-Betrug-PRO-MUSIK.pdf), bands including Die Toten Hosen, Die Ärzte, Kraftklub and AnnenMayKantereit, along with promoters and music associations, asked the government to act. \"Konzerttickets sind keine Spekulationsobjekte\" (Concert tickets are not objects of speculation), the letter said. It asked for six things:\n\n* a right for organizers to decide where tickets may be resold;\n* a cap of 25 percent on commercial resale;\n* a ban on short sales;\n* a ban on bots and fake identities;\n* full transparency duties;\n* a reporting system with liability for platforms.\n\nHubig's cap is tighter than the 25 percent the letter asked for. Other demands, such as a ban on bots, have not been confirmed as part of the draft.\n\nSome experts say bots matter most. Sebastian Späth, a digital markets researcher at the University of Hamburg, told [the public radio station SWR3](https://www.swr3.de/musik/news/ticket-weiterverkauf-ticketschutzgesetz-100.html) that action is needed above all against automated buying programs. SWR3 cited studies saying that bots buy 40 to 60 percent of tickets. The United States already bans such bots under its Better Online Ticket Sales Act.\n\n## Viagogo's position\n\nViagogo has long rejected criticism of high prices by saying it does not sell tickets itself but only runs a marketplace, WDR reported. The company charges fees to both sellers and buyers.\n\nIn its entry in the [Bundestag's lobby register](https://www.lobbyregister.bundestag.de/inhalte-der-interessenvertretung/regelungsvorhabensuche/RV0013641/442070), filed under the topic \"Online-Ticketbörsen,\" Viagogo says it supports \"fair and balanced regulation of the ticket market.\" It says it wants to \"critically question the dominant position in the primary market\" to prevent anticompetitive behavior and strengthen consumer rights. It names as especially important more transparency and working competition in the primary market and \"the protection of a free and independent secondary market.\" Such a market, it says, lets consumers resell or transfer their tickets flexibly.\n\nThe artists' letter takes the opposite view of the platforms. It says several courts, most recently regional courts in Hamburg and Berlin, have found that platforms like Viagogo misled fans about whether tickets were valid. Viagogo had not commented publicly on Hubig's draft in the coverage reviewed for this article.\n\n## How other countries regulate resale\n\nGermany would join several countries that already limit ticket resale. France has restricted commercial resale for many years, WDR reported. The United Kingdom requires sellers to show the original price, the seat number and the seller's identity. Belgium and Italy have similar rules. In those countries, organizers can name the platforms where tickets may be resold, and illegal offers can be removed on notice, according to the artists' letter.\n\nSome platforms already cap prices voluntarily. TicketSwap, for example, says tickets on its site cannot be sold for more than 120 percent of their original price, WDR reported.\n\n## Coalition politics and the timetable\n\nHubig had already said in May that she wanted to act, WDR reported. The open letter noted that the coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU and the SPD promises to regulate the secondary ticket market more strictly. It quoted the agreement as saying the government wants to protect consumers \"vor überhöhten Preisen, Intransparenz und betrügerischen Verkaufspraktiken\" (from excessive prices, lack of transparency and fraudulent sales practices).\n\nThe draft must now pass the government's internal review. If ministries agree, it would go to the cabinet and then to the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. Hubig's target of next summer leaves about six months for that process.\n\nHubig has several other bills in progress. This month she also proposed [making verbal sexual harassment a crime](https://567politics.com/news/germany-hubig-draft-verbal-sexual-harassment-offense-rape-limitation-november-2026), and she has backed [a review of a possible AfD ban](https://567politics.com/news/germany-hubig-afd-ban-review-leaked-emails-merz-skeptical-november-2026). More on her record is on [Stefanie Hubig's profile page](https://567politics.com/politicians/stefanie-hubig). Her party governs in Berlin with the [CDU](https://567politics.com/parties/germany/cdu) and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU.\n\n**Germany's road to a ticket resale cap**\n\n* **May 2026**: Artists, promoters and music groups send an open letter asking for a ticket protection law\n* **May 2026**: Hubig says she wants to act against resale markups\n* **Nov. 10, 2026**: Hubig says the draft is finished, with a cap of 20 percent or 20 euros\n* **Summer 2027**: Hubig's target for the law to be in force\n* **July 2027**: Oasis plays three sold-out shows in Munich\n\n*Sources were reviewed on Nov. 10, 2026. German quotations were translated by 567 Politics staff.*","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}