Lockdown. The “inexpressible and absurd” voucher law KuKuSpoSiG now regulates what happens in the event of event cancellations, according to SAAM boss Peter Kolba.
If an art, cultural or sporting event is canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the second half of 2021 and the organizer therefore has to reimburse a visitor or participant the entry or participation price or a comparable fee, then extremely complicated voucher regulations apply a broadcast of the VSV.
These are set out in the Art, Culture and Sports Protection Act, abbreviated as KuKuSpoSiG (see also the Information page of the WKÖ).
“Unclear rules”
Basically, according to VSV founder Peter Kolba:
- If events are canceled, customers can be pacified with vouchers: the law forces consumers to be fobbed off with a voucher up to an amount of 70 euros. In addition, there is a right to a refund of money.
- But if around 250 euros or more are to be reimbursed, the organizer has to pay 180 euros in cash and the rest can be done by voucher.
- Upon request, the vouchers can be redeemed in cash by December 31, 2023.
- The voucher can be passed on to third parties.
Where the VSV locates the problems
However, according to Kolba, the detailed rules cause a few ambiguities: regional authorities or organizers attributable to them cannot impose vouchers on their customers, but private organizers can. In the end, the customer has to research what kind of organizer it is – a “research effort that leaves customers desperate,” they say.
Another point of criticism: Although customers do not have to be fobbed off with vouchers in every case, they can voluntarily agree to do so. Therefore, a customer could be duped in practice: He would have to reject an offered voucher for 250 euros and demand the payment of 70 euros in cash and only 180 euros per voucher. But if he – in ignorance of the rules of the game – accepts the voucher for 250 euros, then in the eyes of the organizer he has agreed “voluntarily”, criticizes Kolba.
And finally: Since there are no form and content regulations for the Covid-19 vouchers, in practice there is the problem of differentiating a gift voucher or similar from a Corona voucher.
Anyone who does not use their Corona voucher by December 31, 2023 must actively request payment in the form of money: an interest-free loan, so to speak, and also characterized by the practical problem of finding the voucher and the associated contact person in two years. “Unfortunately, an absurd law is now being applied again,” said VSV chairman Kolba.
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