CODE OF REGULATIONS ON TRANSFERRING ADMISSION TICKETS TO FOOTBALL MATCHES
Given
- the Protocol of Understanding drawn up by the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry for Sport, CONI, FIGC, the Professional Leagues, the Lega Nazionale Dilettanti, AIA, AIC and AIAC for “The Launch of Participation and Simplification Management” of August 4th 2017 aiming to safeguard and promote the “social dimension of football” ;
- that one of the tools provided for in the Protocol to achieve these goals is the accountability of sports companies with regards to ticket policies, to be implemented (also) through the introduction of the so-called “system of approval”;
- that the approval system is a tool made available to Sports Companies to exclude from stadia, for an appropriate time, those who cannot maintain a good conduct in accordance with the Company’s “Code of Conduct”;
- that through the approval system, the Companies are active in ensuring that all those wishing to go to the stadium may find an acceptable, safe and suitable environment for all kinds of supporters, including families with children;
- that all the LNPA clubs condemn any violent conduct, including verbal conduct, and any conduct which directly or indirectly leads to offense, denigration or insult on grounds of race, color, religion, language, gender, nationality, ethnic origin or, more generally, that the Company considers to be unlawful, inadequate or unrepresentative of their traditions and their sporting identity;
- that all persons who have access, in any way, to events organized by the clubs must respect the same values and generally recognized behaviors such as civil coexistence, respect and safety;
Given
Article 12 of the Code of Sports Justice;
this “Code of Regulations for transferring admission tickets to football matches” (hereafter: Code) has been adopted and is governed in accordance with the methods described below.
Art. 1
Definition
The “approval rating” (hereafter: approval) is a strictly private tool.
The Sports Company U.S. Sassuolo Calcio srl is fully entitled to refuse to sell admission tickets or to temporarily or definitively suspend their validity, if they have already been sold, to people who are “not welcomed” in accordance with this Code.
Approval applies not only to conducts after the purchase of the ticket or the subscription of a season ticket or loyalty program, but also to conducts before the purchase of the above-mentioned tickets or loyalty programs.
Art.2
Type of conduct
For the purpose of evaluation pursuant to Article 1, all conduct associated directly with a football event (hereafter: Event), regardless of the location and time of the same.
For the purpose of this Code, Event refers to all initiatives or moments open to the public and organized by the Sports Company and therefore not solely to official occasions.
To this end, shall be disapproved all conduct that is contrary to the values of sport and public decency, all acts the performance of which expresses racial, territorial, ethnic and religious discrimination with regards to the supporters of rival teams, staff, institutions and civil society.
Also disapproved are all those actions which incur administrative fines for the Sports Company, or which damage the interests and/or image of the latter.
Art.3
Conditions
The approval rating and the consequent preventive measures do not give the right to any type of reimbursement.
Where not specifically forbidden, it is permitted to transfer tickets already purchased to third parties, provided that they are entitled to use them.
The preventive measure does not prejudice any benefits accrued in accordance with the loyalty program, unless the benefit refers to the event for which the preventive measure was ordered. In this case, the benefit may be used for the match subsequent to the prohibited match, provided that this is feasible in terms of the sports calendar, otherwise the benefit will be lost.
If during the suspension the supporter’s unacceptable conduct is repeated, further preventive measures may be put in place and will be added to the previous measure without the possibility of integration.
Regardless of the location in which the unacceptable conduct took place, approval is exercised only for participation in games held at the stadium used by the Sports Company, with the consequent exclusion of away matches.
Art.4
Advertising
The current version of this code is published, since its adoption, on the official website of the Sports Company www.sassuolocalcio.it, on the authorized offices situated in the territory where the Company is located and at the entrance gates to the sports facility and centres associated with the Sports Company U.S .Sassuolo Calcio srl.
Art.5
Sources
The Sports Company may identify certain conduct through:
- reports from the head of security, the stewarding services of the Supporter Liaison Officer department and/or from other staff of the Sports Company;
- images of the stadium on surveillance videos;
- images diffused on social networks where it is possible to identify the person believed to be responsible of such conduct;
- open sources, in the case of publicly ascertained facts.
Art.6
Evaluation parameters
The following factors are evaluation parameters for the purpose of the present Code:
- fraud or guilt of breach in relation to evident premeditation and/or, on the contrary, emotional reaction;
- the type of juridical asset “attacked”;
- previous conduct that substantiates a recurrence or that led to a simple warning;
- subsequent conduct that substantiates active repentance or an undoubted desire to collaborate to eliminate or ease possible consequences deriving from unlawful conduct that damages the Sports Company U.S. Sassuolo Calcio srl, including the admission of responsibility and concrete repentance/regret by the party concerned;
- the person’s role as instigator or mere participant of the conduct
The acts committed inside the stadium, which include a breach of the regulations of use, will be punished by both types of provisions (fines and bans) as they are of a different nature.
Art.7
Duration of measures
The duration of the preventive measures is in proportion to the seriousness of the act committed, identified in accordance with the criteria given in Art. 6
The range of the preventive measures may vary from a minimum of one or more days to a determined number of seasons.
Through a special IT platform, the Sports Company U.S. Sassuolo Calcio srl will register and advise the ticketing company (of home matches) about the period of suspension of approval by inserting an alert that will be registered, collected and processed in compliance with the privacy regulation in force at the time.
Art.8
Procedure
The objection to the conduct containing the description of the breaches is established and communicated to the person who has been identified through the data registered for providing the admission ticket – if the conduct is subsequent to the issue of the ticket – or through direct knowledge via public registers, or through the Police Force, which the Sports Company may address in all cases where it intends to report the person (if necessary), by registered letter or any other notification method, within 7 days from the identification of the subject to which such conduct is attributed.
The individual as identified above, has the right to present, within 5 calendar days from the communication receipt, to the registered office of the Sports Company, his/her “reasons” for evaluation with the aim of modifying or withdrawing the provision, and to request to be heard.
Within the subsequent 20 days the Company shall come to a decision about the request.
After 20 days, silence from the Sports Company is understood to mean that the request has been denied.
The Company shall appoint every year, before the beginning of the official football season, a Commission composed of three persons, however chaired by the President or the CEO, disclosing it on its official website, www.sassuolocalcio.it.
Art.9
Minors
It is possible to issue preventive measures with regard to minors, provided that they are fourteen years of age.
The minor holding a season ticket, whose parent is facing a preventive measure by the Sports Company U.S. Sassuolo Calcio srl, may be accompanied to the stadium by another adult holding a valid ticket.
Art.10
Relation with other procedures
The application of the above-mentioned prohibitions is regardless of any penal/civil procedures in that the conduct subject of investigation may damage various interests.
The application of the preventive measures does not prejudice, in any case, the right of the Sports Company to take action in any court of law against the perpetrator of the breach.