§ 391-M — Manufacture and sale of in-line skates; regulation of

§ 391-m. Manufacture and sale of in-line skates; regulation of. 1. As\nused in this section, the term:\n (a) "Protective gear" shall mean the following: a helmet meeting the\nstandards established by the commissioner of motor vehicles pursuant to\nsubdivision two-a of section twelve hundred thirty-eight of the vehicle\nand traffic law; and wrist guards, elbow pads, and knee pads of such\nstandards, designs, sizes, strengths, and thicknesses as will reduce the\nrisk to the wearer of serious physical injury caused by impact to the\nbody part on which such protective gear is designed to be worn, such as,\nbut not limited to, from falls and collisions.\n (b) "In-line skate" shall mean a manufactured or assembled device each\nconsisting of an upper portion that is intended to be secured to a human\nfoot, with a frame or chassis attached along the length of the bottom of\nsuch upper portion, with such frame or chassis holding two or more\nwheels that are longitudinally aligned and used to skate or glide, by\nmeans of human foot and leg power while having such device attached to\neach such foot or leg.\n (c) "Brake" shall mean a part which is secured to an in-line skate, as\ndefined in paragraph (b) of this subdivision, and intended to enable the\nuser to control his or her speed and/or come to a stop.\n (d) "Warning instruction" shall mean a label, hangtag, shield or plate\nwhich is clearly visible to the consumer, with substantially the\nfollowing notice printed in clear and conspicuous type: "WARNING !\nREDUCE THE RISK OF SERIOUS INJURY AND ONLY USE THESE SKATES WHILE\nWEARING FULL PROTECTIVE GEAR - HELMET, WRIST GUARDS, ELBOW PADS, AND\nKNEE PADS."\n 2. (a) No person, firm, corporation, or other legal entity which\nmanufactures or assembles in-line skates shall manufacture, assemble,\nsell, offer to sell, or distribute in this state such in-line skates\nunless: (i) at least one such in-line skate in each pair manufactured or\nassembled is manufactured or assembled with a brake, as defined in this\nsection; and (ii) at least one such in-line skate in each pair\nmanufactured or assembled contains a warning instruction, as defined in\nthis section, either on at least one such in-line skate in each pair or\non the outside of the box in which such pair of in-line skates is sold\nor offered for sale at retail; and (iii) each such pair of in-line\nskates which contains a user's guide or buyer's instruction manual also\ncontains a warning instruction, as defined in this section, within or on\nsuch guide or manual; and, (iv) every in-line skate is equipped with a\nreflective device or material meeting the standards established by rules\nand regulations promulgated by the commissioner of motor vehicles. Each\npair of in-line skates which is manufactured or assembled by a person,\nfirm, corporation, or other legal entity for special use by highly\nskilled or expert skaters or for sale or distribution through custom\norders, such as in-line hockey skates and in-line speed skates, is\nexempt from the requirements of items (i) and (iv) of this paragraph,\nprovided that such person, firm, corporation or other legal entity which\nmanufactures or assembles such pair of in-line skates clearly and\nconspicuously labels at least one in-line skate in each such pair of\nin-line skates or the outside of the box in which such pair of in-line\nskates is sold or offered for sale at retail with the following warning\nin substantially the following form: "WARNING: THESE IN-LINE SKATES\nCONTAIN NO BRAKES OR REFLECTIVE MATERIAL AND ARE INTENDED FOR HIGHLY\nSKILLED OR EXPERT SKATERS ONLY".\n (b) No person, firm, corporation or other legal entity which is\nregularly engaged in the business of selling, offering for sale, or\ndistributing in-line skates at retail for consumer use, shall sell,\noffer to sell, or distribute in this state such in-line skates unless\nsuch in-line skates conform to the manufacturing requirements set forth\nin paragraph (a) of this subdivision.\n (c) No person, firm, corporation, or other legal entity which is\nregularly engaged in the business of selling, offering for sale, or\ndistributing in-line skates at retail, for consumer use, shall offer\nsuch in-line skates for sale in the normal course of business in this\nstate unless such person, firm, corporation, or other legal entity\ncontemporaneously offers for sale upon the same premises protective\ngear, as defined in this section.\n (d) Whenever there shall be a violation of this section, an\napplication may be made by the attorney general in the name of the\npeople of the state of New York to a court or justice having\njurisdiction by a special proceeding to issue an injunction, and upon\nnotice to the defendant of not less than five days, to enjoin and\nrestrain the continuance of such violation; and if it shall appear to\nthe satisfaction of the court or justice that the defendant has, in\nfact, violated this article, an injunction may be issued by such court\nor justice, enjoining and restraining any further violation, without\nrequiring proof that any person has, in fact, been injured or damaged\nthereby. In any such proceeding, the court may make allowances to the\nattorney general as provided in paragraph six of subdivision (a) of\nsection eighty-three hundred three of the civil practice law and rules,\nand direct restitution. Whenever the court shall determine that a\nviolation of this article has occurred, the court may impose a civil\npenalty of not more than five hundred dollars for such violation. In\nconnection with any such proposed application, the attorney general is\nauthorized to take proof and make a determination of the relevant facts\nand to issue subpoenas in accordance with the civil practice law and\nrules.\n (e) No person, firm, corporation or other legal entity which is\nregularly engaged in the business of manufacturing, distributing,\nselling, or offering for sale in-line skates shall be deemed to have\nviolated the provisions of this subdivision, if such person, firm,\ncorporation or other legal entity shows by a preponderance of evidence\nthat the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide\nerror made notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably\nadopted to avoid any such error.\n (f) This subdivision shall not apply to the sale of in-line skates or\nprotective gear sold or offered for sale by consumers for consumer use.\n