Belgian music festivals banned from 'pre-screening' attendees

The organisers of Belgium's summer music festivals have been banned from carrying out criminal record checks on ticket-holders, after privacy complaints last year at Tomorrowland.

Belgian interior minister Jan Jambon said "pre-screening" festivalgoers when they buy their ticket would no longer be tolerated. Only festival staff and volunteers can undergo such checks.

Last summer, the Belgian Privacy Commission criticised a decision by the federal police to screen all 230,000 ticket-holders for the Tomorrowland dance music festival, leading to 38 people being banned.

A police spokesman said at the time that the checks applied to foreign nationals - who make up half the audience - as well as Belgians - "to see if there were names of people we’d rather not see at Tomorrowland".

The Privacy Commission said those who were banned were not told on what basis the decision had been taken, and had no right to appeal.

Tomorrowland 2018 returns to Boom, Antwerp province, over the last two weekends in July.