Chapter 541

2004 -- S 2407 SUBSTITUTE A

Enacted 07/09/04

 

 

 

A N A C T

RELATING TO COMMERCIAL LAW -- GIFT CERTIFICATES

     

     

     Introduced By: Senator Michael J. McCaffrey

     Date Introduced: February 11, 2004

 

 

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

 

     SECTION 1. Section 6-13-12 of the General Laws in Chapter 6-13 entitled "Unfair Sales

Practices" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     6-13-12. Sales of gift certificates. – “Gift certificate” means a record evidencing a

promise, made for monetary consideration, by the seller or issuer for the record that goods or

services will be provided to the owner of the record to the value shown in the record and includes,

but is not limited to, a record that contains a microprocessor chip, magnetic strip or other means

of storage of information that is pre-funded and for which the value is decremented upon each

use, a gift card, an electronic gift card, stored-value card or certificate, a store card, a prepaid

telephone card, or a similar record or card. Any person, firm, or corporation that sells gift

certificates for any product or merchandise sold by the person, firm, or corporation, shall be

required to record the sales and keep an accurate and complete record of each of these gift

certificate sold. certificates for a period of two (2) years from the date of the sale. The record shall

include the date of sale, the full value of the certificate, the identification number assigned by the

retailer to the certificate, and the state in which the sale of the certificate took place. The retailer

shall further be required to give to the purchaser of gift certificates exceeding fifty dollars

($50.00) a written and numbered receipt evidencing the sale of the certificate. It shall be unlawful

for any person, firm, or corporation restaurant or eating establishment of any kind to charge

additional monthly or annual service or maintenance fees on gift certificates or to limit the time

for the redemption of a gift certificate or to place an expiration date upon the gift certificate. No

gift certificate or any agreement with respect to such gift certificate may contain language

suggesting that an expiration date may apply to the gift certificate. Any person, firm, or

corporation that shall violate the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more

than two hundred dollars ($200). Due to the unlimited redemption period, the division of taxation

shall not escheat the funds paid for those unredeemed gift certificates. Any unused portion of a

redeemed gift certificate shall be afforded to the consumer by reissuing the gift certificate for the

unused amount or providing cash where the balance due the consumer is less than one dollar

($1.00). This section shall not apply to the following:

     (a) General-use prepaid cards issued by a third-party prepaid card issuer which shall

mean plastic cards or other electronic payment devices which are: (1) usable at multiple,

unaffiliated, merchants or service providers and/or at automatic teller machines ("ATMs"); (2)

issued in a requested amount which amount may be, at the option of the issuer, increased to value

or reloaded if requested by the holder; (3) purchased and/or loaded on a prepaid basis by a

consumer and shall not include debit cards linked to a deposit account, or cards purchased by a

business entity; and (4) honored upon presentation by merchants for goods or services, or at

ATMs.

     (b) Gift certificates that are distributed to a consumer pursuant to an awards, loyalty or

promotional program without any money or other thing of value being given in exchange for the

gift certificate by the consumer. Any restrictions or limitations which such gift certificates may

be subject to must be disclosed to the consumer, in writing, at the time the gift certificates are

distributed to the consumer.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

     

=======

LC01561/SUB A

=======