雙語社評齊齊聽

[英語 (足本收聽)]

[普通話 (足本收聽)]

AMID the recent public outcry over the difficulty to buy concert and entertainment show tickets scarce as gold dust and the rampant practice of consignment ticketing and touting activities, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has promised to review the relevant laws and raise the penalty. Although the problem of ticket scalping is not much of a major policy issue, people's desire for a fair and just ticketing arrangement should not be taken as an unreasonable demand. Good governance should be people-oriented. The Home Affairs Bureau should have long taken a proactive approach, plugged the legal loopholes and imposed effective measures to crack down on scalpers. It has no excuse for letting the Chief Executive get involved in everything while it remains laid-back, never starting to work unless given a push. Touting activities have plagued local people for many years. The procrastinating and slothful bureaucratic style reflected in the problem must be seriously addressed by the government.

[ENG audio 1]

All this has been going on in Hong Kong for many years. Whenever a popular show or an international event is to be staged, tickets are bound to be scalped. A ticket originally priced at several hundreds of dollars can easily be marked up to thousands of dollars on trading platforms online. People who cannot get tickets at normal price are left with no choice, no matter how furious they are. Some of them may have even accepted this "inevitable phenomenon" as a so-called example of the supply and demand principle. They have simply forgotten that the government is capable of and responsible for combatting those scalping gangs. But the issue has once again become a hot topic lately in the city. From ordinary citizens, celebrities to legislators, many have called for a tough crackdown by the government on touts so as to achieve fairness to citizens.

[ENG audio 2]

Yesterday (April 11), Lam indicated at the Legislative Council that the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) will review the current laws and consider including LCSD venues as places where ticket touting is prohibited. The department will also study the possibility of increasing penalty and having a ticketing system on trial that requires people to register with their real names when purchasing tickets. Home Affairs Secretary Lau Kong-wah said as many as 80% of all tickets are now sold as "consignment tickets" but the proportion is too high. His bureau will adjust the ratio within this year to increase tickets available for public sale. At the same time it will also consult the Department of Justice about amending the laws.

[ENG audio 3]

Why is it that the scalpers seem to have no qualms about what they do? The main reason has been the big loopholes in the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance that prohibits ticket scalping. The ordinance stipulates that anyone who sells any tickets for admission to "licensed places of public entertainment" at a price higher than the official price shall be found guilty of an offence, which carries a maximum fine of $2,000. However, LCSD venues like the Hong Kong Coliseum and the Hong Kong Stadium are not covered by the ordinance because they are exempt from getting a license. Furthermore, the ordinance is not in pace with the times and cannot be used to target touting activities online. Considering the fact that tickets for popular shows and matches are rare commodities that can fetch high prices, the mere 2,000-dollar fine does not act as much of a deterrent.

[ENG audio 4]

The government's permission of consignment ticketing is also a factor that breeds ticket scalping. It is true that many performances involve business sponsors and may need greater flexibility in the allocation of tickets. But the requirement that organisers who hire LCSD venues have to allocate only "at least 20% of tickets for public sale" is really too low a threshold to meet. The authorities should have changed such terms long ago and should not have left the issue unaddressed until now. As for real name registration, it is an idea worth considering in combatting ticket scalping. Given the present level of information technology in Hong Kong, such an arrangement should not be that unachievable on the technical side. In fact, there is a big trend towards real name registration, with purposes ranging from combatting ticket scalping to enhancing security against terrorism. The biggest obstacle, however, is still procrastination on the part of officials.

[ENG audio 5]

打擊「炒飛」姍姍來遲 折射官僚因循拖拉

近期本港不少演唱會及表演一票難求，內部認購、「炒黃牛」猖獗，行政長官林鄭月娥表示，政府將檢討法例提高刑罰。「炒黃牛」問題說不上是政策大事，惟市民希望售票安排公平公道，也不應視為奢求。良好管治需要以民為本，民政事務局早應主動作為，堵塞現有法例漏洞，採取有效措施打擊「黃牛黨」，沒理由要行政長官事事親躬，「踢一踢」才「郁一郁」。「炒黃牛」活動困擾市民多年，背後折射的官僚因循拖拉作風，政府必須認真檢討。

[PTH audio 1]

多年來本港每逢有熱門表演和國際盛事，例必有人「炒飛」，一張數百元的門票，隨時可以在網上交易平台炒至數千元，市民向隅氣結無奈，部分人甚至接受這是所謂供求定律「必然現象」，忘記政府有能力亦有責任打擊「黃牛黨」。最近炒賣「黃牛飛」又再成為城中熱話，由小市民、名藝人到立法會議員都要求政府嚴厲打擊「黃牛黨」，還市民一個公道。

[PTH audio 2]

昨天林鄭月娥出席立法會會議，表示康文署會檢討法例，考慮將「黃牛黨」炒賣康文署場地門票納入規管，研究提高刑罰，署方還會試驗門票實名制。民政事務局長劉江華則表示，現行「內部認購」比例達到八成是過高，局方今年內會調整比例，增加公開發售數量，同時也會諮詢律政司，研究修改法例。

[PTH audio 3]

「黃牛黨」有恃無恐，一大原因是目前規管「炒飛」活動的《公眾娛樂場所條例》（下稱《條例》），存在重大漏洞。《條例》訂明，任何人以高於官方價格出售「持牌公眾娛樂場所」任何門票，均屬違法，最高罰款2000元，可是康文署轄下場所，包括紅磡體育館及香港大球場等，均屬豁免發牌公眾娛樂場所，不受《條例》監管。《條例》未有與時並進，應對網上炒賣活動，熱門表演和球賽門票奇貨可居，區區2000元罰款，更是毫無阻嚇力可言。

[PTH audio 4]

目前政府允許的門票內部認購安排，是助長「炒飛」因素之一。誠然，很多表演都涉及商業贊助，門票分配需要靈活安排，惟主辦單位租借康文署場地，只需滿足「至少兩成門票公開發售」的要求，門檻未免過低，當局早應改變規定，不應拖至現在才落實。打擊「炒飛」活動，實名制購票值得考慮，以現今本港資訊科技水平，技術難度亦不高。不管是為了打擊「炒飛」還是加強保安反恐，實名制都是大勢所趨，最大阻力反而在於因循心態。

[PTH audio 5]

明報社評2018.04.12

Presented by lecturers of Hong Kong Community College, PolyU and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Dr TAO, Kimberly Wei-yi

Lecturer

www.hkcc-polyu.edu.hk/staff_directory/language_communication/TAO,_Kimberly_Wei-yi-382.html

焦妮娜

講師

www.hkcc-polyu.edu.hk/staff_directory/language_communication/JIAO,_Nina-108.html

【Bilingual Editorial】