MOSCOW, July 11 (RAPSI) – The lower house of parliament, the State Duma, adopted a draft law on penalties for illicit sale or falsification of the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship tickets in the third and final reading on Thursday.

The bill also envisages penalties for the sale of tickets without a respective contract with UEFA or a relevant authorized organization, as well as the sale of falsified tickets.

Earlier, the Russian Sports Ministry has noted that the practice of imposing administrative penalties for illicit trade in and falsification of tickets proved its efficiency as a mechanism against such offences in the course of the preparation for the FIFA World Football Cup of 2018.

Currently, the Russian Code of Administrative Offences envisages fines for illegal sales of FIFA World Cup of 2018 tickets ranging from 20 to 25-fold price of a ticket for individuals and from 500,000 rubles ($7,600 at the actual exchange rate) to one million rubles ($15,200), or administrative suspension of activities for up to 90 days for legal entities.

As concerns trade in counterfeit FIFA tickets, under the Code the fines make 50,000 to 70,000 rubles ($760 to about $1,000) for individuals, and from 1 to 1,5 million rubles ($15,200 to $23,000), or administrative suspension of activities for up to 90 days for legal entities.

The 60th anniversary Euro will take place in 13 European cities and countries in 2020. The second largest city of Russia, Saint Petersburg, was given a right to host 3 group stage matches and one of the cup’s quarterfinals.