President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed two decrees on Monday (Aug 31) at the Planalto presidential palace that change the rules for concerts and other cultural events in Brazil. One regulates online ticket sales and transfers and creates tools against digital scalping, the speculative resale of tickets. The other requires free drinking water at large events.
The government says the goal is to stop abusive and misleading practices and make ticket prices transparent, according to news site g1. At the ceremony, Lula addressed administrators of fan club websites invited to the signing. "These decrees were signed thanks to you," he said, according to the newspaper Correio Braziliense. Culture Minister Margareth Menezes, first lady Janja, consumer protection secretary Ricardo Morishita and the ministers Guilherme Boulos, Sidônio Palmeira and Míriam Belchior attended, along with the fan representatives.
New ticket rules
The ticket decree orders the original seller to adopt measures to:
"prevent and block the mass, abusive or speculative acquisition of tickets, including through automated systems, software, scripts or other means"
Digital box offices must use virtual queues, pre-registration and per-customer limits, and must individualize tickets and guarantee authenticity and traceability to stop duplicates and forgeries. Buyers will see the total price and a breakdown of fees from the start, along with their position in the virtual queue and estimated waiting time. Duplicate fees, fees of a similar nature and fees with no service attached are banned, as is the automatic addition of extra services without the customer's consent.
Resale platforms must make clear they are not official sales channels, disclose the ticket's face value and warn whenever a ticket sells above it. They must also flag habitual, professional or organized resale patterns and remove irregular listings. The decree protects the meia-entrada, Brazil's half-price ticket for students and other eligible groups: sellers cannot artificially restrict it, fees cannot erode the discount and companies must report how many discounted tickets were offered and sold. Ticket transfers will be free, and cancellations trigger a full refund, fees included. The rules cover digital sales only and do not apply to physical-only box offices or sports events, the Correio Braziliense reports.
Free water
The second decree turns into presidential-level rules a duty that since 2023 sat in an ordinance of Senacon, the national consumer protection office tied to the Justice Ministry. That ordinance came after the death of Ana Benevides, a 23-year-old fan who fell ill during Taylor Swift's concert in Rio de Janeiro, held in extreme heat. As a decree, an act of the presidency with the force of regulatory law, the rules now apply nationwide.
Events expecting more than 1,000 people must provide drinking fountains or hand out water for free. The public may bring personal bottles or containers of drinking water, and selling beverages on site does not remove the free hydration duty. Water points and drink stands must sit in easily accessible spots, and venues must have structure for quick rescue in emergencies. What comes next is enforcement: consumer protection agencies will track bottled water prices at events to curb unjustified increases, and ticket platforms face the new transparency duties and the removal of irregular resale listings.