Maltaticket.com CEO David Pollina lambasted the European Commissioner for Consumer Policy, John Dalli for failing to apologise for dismissive remarks he made on the ticketing industry in Malta.
“Saying the commissioner is not responsible for libelling an entire industry by his remarks because the information came from the Maltese Consumer Division is like a politician putting the blame for what he said on his speechwriter,” Dr Pollina said.
Maltaticket.com demanded an apology from Mr Dalli after an EU-wide investigation concluded that five internet sites with a Maltese connection, selling online tickets for cultural and sporting events, were deceiving clients and not adhering to consumer protection laws.
Dr Pollina said Maltaticket. com did not have any problems with the concept of a “sweep” enforcement exercise and the company encouraged such proactive enforcement, which was in the interest of consumers and operators. The complaint, he added, was about the release of “nebulous and self-serving ‘results’, which were not substantiated with any proof or directed at any offender”.
The fact remained that, by making such sweeping and unverified claims, Mr Dalli lumped all good operators with any that may be bad and left the public in doubt as to which was which, Dr Pollina added.
He expressed alarm at a statement made by Mr Dalli’s spokesman, saying the offending websites would soon be contacted by national authorities.
“If this is true, then they accepted as valid ‘results’ from the Maltese Consumer Division, which may have resulted without any contact with operators they judge to be noncompliant. They might never have given any of these operators a fair hearing or even told them that the authorities thought there was a problem,” Dr Pollina said.
Mr Dalli said in Brussels last week the sites were being further probed by both the EU and the Maltese authorities following the findings of the EU-wide investigation.
He did not name the sites involved but said the defaulting sites were given some time to regularise their position or face sanctions under Maltese laws.
The so-called Sweep exercise, introduced by the Commission two years ago, involves coordinated actions by the national consumer authorities of the 27 member states, which simultaneously check a particular market for practices breaching EU laws.