§ 214-H — Unit pricing

§ 214-h. Unit pricing. 1. Consumer information required. Each person\nwho sells, offers or exposes for sale in a retail store a consumer\ncommodity shall disclose to the consumer the unit price and the total\nprice of the commodity as provided in this section.\n 2. Definitions. a. "Consumer commodities" shall mean the following,\nhowever packaged or contained:\n (1) food, including all material, solid, liquid or mixed, whether\nsimple or compound, used or intended for consumption by human beings or\ndomestic animals normally kept as household pets and all substances or\ningredients to be added thereto for any purpose; and\n (2) napkins, facial tissues, toilet tissues, foil wrapping, plastic\nwrapping, paper toweling, disposable plates; and\n (3) detergents, soaps and other cleansing agents; and\n (4) non-prescription drugs, female hygiene products and toiletries.\n b. "Retail store" shall mean a store which sells consumer commodities\nat retail, which store is not primarily engaged in the sale of food for\nconsumption on the premises, or which is not primarily engaged in a\nspecialty trade which the commissioner determines, by regulation, would\nbe inappropriate for unit pricing. An establishment which sells consumer\ncommodities only to its members shall be deemed to be included within\nthis definition unless the members must pay a direct fee to qualify for\nmembership and the establishment is not required to collect sales tax on\ntransactions with members, pursuant to article twenty-eight of the tax\nlaw.\n c. "Unit price" of a consumer commodity shall mean the price per\nmeasure.\n d. "Price per measure" shall mean:\n (1) price per pound for commodities whose net quantity is expressed in\nunits of weight, except for such commodities whose net weight is less\nthan one ounce which shall be expressed as price per ounce and\ncommodities in powdered form which purport to be or are represented for\nspecial dietary use solely as a food for infants by reason of its\nsimulation of human milk or suitability as a complete or partial\nsubstitute for human milk which shall be expressed as price per\nreconstituted fluid ounce; provided that the same unit of measure is\nused for the same commodity in all sizes;\n (2) price per pint or quart for commodities whose net quantity is\nstated in fluid ounces, pints, quarts or gallons or a combination\nthereof, except for such commodities in concentrated liquid or ready to\nfeed form which purport to be or are represented for special dietary use\nsolely as a food for infants by reason of its simulation of human milk\nor suitability as a complete or partial substitute for human milk which\nshall be expressed as price per reconstituted fluid ounce for\ncommodities in concentrated liquid form and price per fluid ounce for\ncommodities in ready to feed form; provided that the same unit of\nmeasure is used for the same commodity in all sizes sold in the retail\nestablishment;\n (3) price per one hundred for commodities whose net quantity is\nexpressed by count, except as otherwise provided by regulation;\n (4) price per foot for commodities whose net quantity is stated in\nunits of length, except for such commodities whose net quantity exceeds\none hundred feet, which shall be expressed as price per one hundred\nfeet, and the "ply" count, if any, provided that the same unit of\nmeasure is used for the same commodity in all sizes;\n (5) price per square foot or square yard, as appropriate, for\ncommodities whose net quantity is expressed in units of area and the\n"ply" count, if any, provided that the same unit of measure is used for\nthe same commodity in all sizes; or\n (6) such other price per measure, including metric equivalents of the\ncustomary measures, as the commissioner shall by regulation permit. The\ncommissioner shall establish such metric equivalents whenever he\ndetermines that any commodity subject to the provisions of this section\nis being sold, offered or exposed for sale by metric measure.\n 3. Exemptions. a. The provisions of this section shall not apply to\nthe following consumer commodities:\n (1) food sold for consumption on the premises;\n (2) prepackaged food containing separate and identifiable kinds of\nfood segregated by physical division within the package; and any other\nfoods for which the commissioner determines, by rules and regulation,\nthat unit pricing would not be meaningful;\n (3) any food which is primarily or exclusively a gourmet or specialty\nfood, provided that the commissioner determines by regulation that unit\npricing would be impractical for such food, and provided further that\nsuch food is segregated and displayed as a gourmet or specialty food;\n (4) any commodity whose net quantity as offered for sale is one pound,\none ounce, one pint or quart, one hundred count, one foot, one hundred\nfeet, one square foot, one square yard or equivalent metric units\nestablished by the commissioner, provided that it has the retail price\nmarked plainly thereon;\n (5) milk, and other similar low fat products such as two percent milk,\none percent milk and skim milk, cream, melloream and vegetable oil blend\nwhose net quantity as offered for sale is one half pint, one pint, one\nquart, one half gallon, one gallon, one half liter, one liter; frozen\ndesserts such as ice cream, light ice cream, low-fat ice cream, fat-free\nice cream, sherbet, sorbet, frozen yogurt, and any other product similar\nin appearance, odor and taste to such products whose net quantity as\noffered for sale is one half pint, one pint, one quart, one half gallon,\none gallon, and multiples of quarts and gallons; and butter, vegetable\nspread, oleo margarine and margarine whose net quantity is one fourth\npound, one half pound, one pound or multiples of one pound, one hundred\ntwenty-five grams, two hundred fifty grams, five hundred grams or\nmultiples of five hundred grams, flour whose net quantity as offered for\nsale is in five or ten pound bags;\n (6) fresh food produce.\n b. The provisions of this section shall not apply to convenience\nstores which include small stores which typically sell motor fuel,\ntobacco products, fast food and beverages and do not offer sufficient\nquantity of consumer commodities to make unit pricing useful to\nconsumers or to any retail store having had annual gross sales of\nconsumer commodities in the previous calendar year of less than two and\none-half million dollars, unless the store is a part of a network of\nsubsidiaries, affiliates or other member stores, under direct or\nindirect common control, with five or more stores located in New York,\nwhich, as a group, had annual gross sales the previous calendar year of\ntwo and one-half million dollars or more of consumer commodities.\n 4. Means of disclosure. A consumer commodity sold, or offered for sale\nor exposed for sale, subject to this section, shall have the unit price\nand total price disclosed to the consumer in one of the following ways:\n a. if the item is conspicuously visible to the consumer, by the\nattachment of a stamp, tag or label directly under the item on the shelf\non which the item is displayed, or, in the case of refrigerated items\nnot displayed on shelves, in a manner to be prescribed by regulation; or\n b. if the item is not conspicuously visible to the consumer, by a sign\nor list conspicuously placed near the point of procurement, or by\naffixing the unit price and total price on the commodity itself.\n 5. The commissioner may promulgate regulations to effectuate this\nsection.\n 6. Nothing in this section shall be construed to conflict with or\nlimit section one hundred ninety of this chapter.\n 7. Violations and penalties. a. A violation of this section shall be\nsubject to the applicable penalties of this chapter except for the\npenalties specified in section forty-one thereof.\n For purposes of this section, each group of identical consumer\ncommodities for which on any single day the total selling price or price\nper measure is not displayed in accordance with this section or the\nregulations promulgated thereunder shall be considered a violation of\nthis section. Improper unit pricing caused by nonintentional technical\nerrors, however, shall not constitute a violation.\n b. Each group of units not unit priced or improperly unit priced shall\nconstitute a violation. Each individual unit, however, not unit priced\nor improperly unit priced shall not constitute a violation unless\ndisplayed alone.\n c. Each day a violation is continued shall constitute a separate\nviolation.\n d. The provisions of this section and the regulations promulgated\nhereunder may be enforced concurrently by the director of a municipal\nconsumer affairs office or a municipal director of weights and measures.\n 8. Preemption. Except as provided in paragraph b of subdivision three\nof this section, any local law, ordinance, rule or regulation relating\nto labeling, displaying or other disclosure of the price per measure of\nany commodity must be consistent with the provisions of this section and\nthe rules and regulations adopted hereunder.\n