DK demands withdrawal of bill on festival-goers' identification

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) on Thursday demanded the withdrawal of a government sponsored bill requiring big music festival organisers to collect and keep a record of personal data of festival-goers. Lawmakers of the governing Fidesz-KDNP alliance submitted the bill to parliament on Tuesday. The bill would apply to the organisers of music festivals that sell more than 25,000 tickets. It would require them to make a record of each festival-goer's name, nationality, date of birth and personal ID with a photograph for up to 90 days before the start of the event. The data would then be checked against the festival-goers' IDs upon entry. Festival organisers would have to keep a record of the data for 90 days from the end of the festival and make it available to law enforcement officials if requested. The bill's authors said the proposed legislation aimed to ensure the security of festival-goers and prevent crime, especially terrorism. They noted that similar rules are already in force for organisers of sporting events.