A summit convened yesterday by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has established a series of measures designed to combat ticket touting throughout the UK.

DCMS ministers were joined by representatives from leisure and sporting bodies and ticket sellers – including the FA Premier League, the Rugby Football Union, eBay, the Society of London Theatre and Ticketmaster – at the third ticket touting summit to take place since November 2005.

A voluntary undertaking has been given by those industry representatives present to introduce a returns policy, enabling tickets to be returned at face value to the original sellers if the buyer is unable to attend.

The Concert Promoters Association is also going to set up a website allowing fans to exchange tickets for events at face value.

Other ideas explored included introducing a quality standard kitemark for websites dealing with ticket sales – in cooperation with the Office of Fair Trading – alongside continuing to work on “an over-arching code of practice for both primary and secondary ticket sellers”.

Tessa Jowell, secretary of state for culture, media and sport, said the government also refused to rule out future legislation to tackle ticket touting.

The innocent victim of ticket touting is the fan who has to pay through the nose for a vastly over-priced ticket to see their sporting, stage or musical hero," she said.

“I have met with the industry three times now and good progress is being made but the industry should consider itself on notice. If it hasn’t come up with a workable solution to stamping out the most unscrupulous touts by next summer, we may consider targeted action and changes in legislation to ensure genuine fans are protected from exploitation.”

Some industry sectors have recently been lobbying for the inclusion of anti-tout legislation as part of the Violent Crime Reduction Bill.

The summit is expected to reconvene before the end of 2006 to update ministers on progress. Details: www.culture.gov.uk