Parents frazzled by entreaties for barrels of popcorn, otherwise law-abiding citizens sweating over the contraband sweets in their pockets, and anyone else sick of spending more on drinks and snacks than on cinema tickets can rest easy. If, that is, they live in certain parts of Spain.
The Basque Country’s consumer affairs department, Kontsumobide, has fined Yelmo, the huge Spanish cinema chain, €30,000 for refusing entry to customers who buy their food and drink outside its premises.
Kontsumobide decided to fine Yelmo after the Basque branch of the Facua consumer protection group reported the cinema chain to the regional government, arguing that its policy banning food and drink not bought at one of its outlets was contractually unfair.
Yelmo has a strict ban on external products, warning online and in theatres that “the company does not allow access to these premises with food and/or drink purchased outside Yelmo, thereby allowing us to reserve the right to refuse admission”.
However, the consumer group argued that given that a cinema’s main activity is showing films and not providing food services, “it’s not valid for them to use this excuse to refuse entry to people who have bought food and drink outside – especially when food can be bought inside their own premises”.
In other words, it added, Yelmo could not behave like a restaurant as “cinematic activity exists independently of whether or not a company offers a food and drink service”.
The Madrid branch of Facua has also brought legal action against Yelmo there on the same grounds, arguing that the ban on external food and drink is unfair and limits consumers’ rights.
The consumer group points out that the high court in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha has ruled that such bans limit customer choice, and that a 2007 consumer protection law defines unfair clauses as any practices that lead to “an important imbalance when it comes to the rights and duties of the parties in a contract”.
Facua’s general secretary, Rubén Sánchez, said the group had taken successful legal action against other cinema chains elsewhere in Spain for the same reason. “It’s a kind of monopoly that forces you to consume in the same space and to spend up to 20 times more on a product,” he told El País.
A spokesperson for Kontsumobide said Yelmo could appeal against the ruling.
The cinema chain, which also noted that the fine decision was not final, said: “We’d like to point out that Yelmo Cinemas always act in accordance with existing legislation and that we tailor ourselves to the legal specifications of each region in order to ensure the viability of a unique and different leisure offer.”
