Newsfrom Japan

Tokyo, June 14 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese law to ban unfair resale of tickets for sports, music and other events, including through the Internet, and impose penalties on violators went into effect on Friday.

The legislation is expected to help prevent malicious resellers from buying up tickets for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. The results of the online lottery for tickets for the Olympics are slated to be announced on Thursday.

Practices prohibited by the law include repeatedly reselling at prices exceeding the official prices tickets for which a resale ban is clearly stipulated and countermeasures such as identification checks are taken, as well as ticket purchases for unfair reselling.

Violators will face a jail term of up to one year or a fine of up to one million yen, or both penalties.

At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, empty seats were often seen at competition venues, apparently due in part to high ticket prices. An executive of the International Olympic Committee was indicted for alleged unfair reselling of tickets for the games.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]