I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3248 
To direct the Federal Trade Commission to prescribe rules to protect con-
sumers from unfair and deceptive acts and practices in connection with 
primary and secondary ticket sales, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 13, 2019 
Mr. PASCRELL (for himself, Mr. PALLONE, and Mr. SIRES) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To direct the Federal Trade Commission to prescribe rules 
to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive acts and 
practices in connection with primary and secondary ticket 
sales, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Better Oversight of 
Secondary Sales and Accountability in Concert Ticketing 
Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
As used in this Act, the following definitions apply: 
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(1) The term ‘‘ancillary charges’’ means all fees 
that must be paid in order to secure a ticket from 
a primary ticket seller or secondary ticket market-
place, including service fees, convenience charges, 
parking fees, taxes and other charges. 
(2) The term ‘‘base price’’ means the price 
charged for a ticket other than any ancillary 
charges. 
(3) The term ‘‘box office’’ means a physical lo-
cation where tickets are offered for primary sale. 
(4) The term ‘‘bundled series tickets’’ means 
packages of tickets for multiple events that are part 
of the same entertainment series. 
(5) The term ‘‘distribution method’’ means the 
manner in which a primary ticket seller distributes 
tickets to a particular event, whether through pri-
mary sale, limited presale promotions, donations to 
charity, reservations of season ticket holders, or allo-
cated to the primary ticket seller, team, artist, or 
venue. 
(6) The term ‘‘primary sale’’, with regards to a 
ticket, means the initial sale of a ticket that has not 
been sold previous to such sale, by a primary ticket 
seller to the general public on or after the advertised 
date of such sale. 
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(7) The term ‘‘primary ticket seller’’ means an 
owner or operator of a venue or a sports team, a 
manager or provider of an event, or a provider of 
ticketing services (or an agent of such owner, oper-
ator, manager, or provider) that engages in the pri-
mary sale of tickets for an event or retains the au-
thority to otherwise distribute tickets. 
(8) The term ‘‘purchaser’’ means any person 
who purchases a ticket from a primary ticket seller 
or a secondary ticket sales marketplace. 
(9) The terms ‘‘resale’’ or ‘‘secondary sale’’, 
with regards to a ticket, mean any sale of a ticket 
that occurs after the primary sale of the ticket. 
(10) The term ‘‘secondary ticket sales market-
place’’ means a business, including a website, soft-
ware application for a mobile device, any other dig-
ital platform, or portion thereof, of a physical seller 
whose primary purpose is to facilitate the resale of 
tickets to purchasers. 
(11) The term ‘‘ticket’’ means a ticket of ad-
mission to a sporting event, theater, musical per-
formance, or place of public amusement of any kind, 
including bundled series tickets. 
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SEC. 3. RULES ON TRANSPARENCY OF TICKET MARKETING, 
DISTRIBUTION, AND PRICING BY PRIMARY 
TICKET SELLERS. 
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Federal Trade Commission shall promul-
gate rules in accordance with section 553 of title 5, United 
States Code, that include the following requirements and 
prohibitions with regard to the primary sale, distribution, 
and pricing of tickets: 
(1) A requirement that a primary ticket seller 
disclose and display on the website and at the box 
office of such primary ticket seller the total number 
of tickets offered for sale to the general public by 
such primary ticket seller not less than 7 days be-
fore the date on which tickets shall be available for 
primary sale. 
(2) A requirement that the primary ticket seller 
clearly and conspicuously disclose all ancillary 
charges to purchasers at the beginning of a trans-
action before a ticket is selected for purchase. A pri-
mary ticket seller shall display the total cost of the 
ticket including all ancillary charges in all price 
quotes and advertisements. The price of the ticket 
may not change during the purchase process. 
(3) A requirement that a primary ticket seller 
include the total cost of a ticket in including all an-
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cillary charges in any refund of a ticket that is pro-
vided for in the primary ticket seller’s refund poli-
cies. 
(4) A prohibition on restricting the ability of a 
purchaser who has purchased tickets from a primary 
ticket seller to resell any such tickets. 
(5) A prohibition on requiring a minimum price 
for the resale of any tickets purchased from a pri-
mary ticket seller. 
(6) A requirement that the primary ticket seller 
shall disclose any guarantee or refund policy before 
the completion of the sale of a ticket. 
SEC. 4. RULES FOR SECONDARY TICKET SALES MARKET-
PLACES. 
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Federal Trade Commission shall promul-
gate rules in accordance with section 553 of title 5, United 
States Code, that include the following requirements and 
prohibitions with regard to the secondary sale, distribu-
tion, and pricing of tickets: 
(1) A requirement that if the secondary ticket 
sales marketplace does not possess the ticket at the 
time of the sale that such secondary ticket sales 
marketplace provide— 
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