Amendments to the Law: No Full Ticket Refund for Events Interrupted by Safety Warnings in Certain Cases

The Ministry of Culture (MoC) has drafted amendments to the Law on Safety of Public Entertainment and Celebration Events, addressing procedures for public events in the event of a threat.

According to the draft law, if a competent authority issues an early warning notification – for example, a cell broadcast about an elevated threat level – that directly affects the event venue, the organizer must not start the event or must immediately stop it. This applies when the threat poses a substantial risk to life or health and safety cannot be ensured.

The amendments provide exceptions regarding ticket refunds. If a paid event is cancelled or interrupted due to such circumstances, the organizer will not be obliged to refund the full ticket value in certain cases. Specifically, if the event is cancelled no later than one hour before its start, or if due to the threat it is objectively impossible to continue or resume the event.

The draft also stipulates that an event that is interrupted and cannot be resumed for objective reasons shall be considered cancelled.

The draft law was developed at the initiative of the MoC, based on an action algorithm prepared by the Crisis Management Centre and MoC guidelines, particularly focused on response to drone threats.