Vienna ticket sellers challenge ban at Constitutional Court

Two companies affected by Vienna’s ban on costumed concert ticket sellers plan to challenge the measure at Austria’s Constitutional Court, ORF reported on Monday.

The companies’ lawyers told the newspaper Heute that they consider the ban disproportionate and unfair. They argue that it applies only to ticket sellers and not to other sectors, and that the transition period was too short. Concert organisers had already been forced to dismiss staff, they said.

Since July, concert tickets cannot be sold on Stephansplatz, Kärntner Straße or Graben, or in front of the State Opera. The city had previously issued a limited number of permits, but said its goal of reducing the number of costumed ticket sellers had not been achieved.