FACUA launches a battery of complaints against festivals for preventing entry with food and drink

FACUA-Consumers in Action has launched a series of complaints against music festival organisers throughout Spain for preventing entry with food and drink from outside.

The association has already filed complaints against the promoters of O Son do Camiño in Santiago de Compostela -which ended up rectifying-, Pirata Beach Festival in Gandía, Interestelar in Sevilla, Icónica Fest in Sevilla, Antílopez concert in Sevilla, and Boombastic, already held in Rivas-Vaciamadrid and Gran Canaria, and soon in Llanera, Fuengirola and Alicante. In 2022 it also denounced more than twenty festivals for engaging in this practice.

FACUA points out that participants have the right to bring in food and drink from outside, given that the main activity of these events is not catering, but the celebration of musical performances, so this prohibition on access to the site is not necessary for the proper conduct of their activity.

Thus, FACUA invites users who are aware of these practices to report them to the association so that it can consider lodging the corresponding complaint with the consumer authorities. Similarly, it points out that consumers can claim for the economic damage they suffer as a result of the extra price they have to pay when purchasing food on the premises, and therefore advises them to keep receipts for all their purchases.

Proportional fines

The association calls on the competent administrations at regional and local level to carry out controls on events held in their territory and to open disciplinary proceedings against those who engage in this abusive practice.

It also points out that the fines imposed should be proportional to the capacity of the events, so that it is not more profitable for them to pay the corresponding sanction than the profit they make by forcing attendees to buy food inside.

What does the law say?

Article 82 of Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007, of 16 November, which approves the revised text of the General Law for the Defence of Consumers and Users and other complementary laws, states that "all stipulations not individually negotiated and all practices not expressly consented to which, contrary to the requirements of good faith, cause, to the detriment of the consumer and user, a significant imbalance in the rights and obligations of the parties deriving from the contract, shall be considered unfair terms".

Paragraph 8 of the aforementioned rule states that "the protection of the legitimate economic and social interests of consumers and users are basic rights; in particular against unfair commercial practices and the inclusion of unfair terms in contracts".

In addition, the then Spanish Agency for Consumer Affairs, Food Safety and Nutrition (Aecosan) - now the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (Aesan) - published a report in 2016 related to this same issue, on that occasion with the ban in cinemas, in which it concluded that there was an "abusive clause" as the consumer "is deprived of the main service, in an unjustified manner, having paid the entrance fee, based on a unilaterally imposed limitation regarding an ancillary service that has not been requested, and taking into account that the basic activity of the company is not the sale and distribution of food and beverages".