New Mexico Administrative Code

It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for any person to engage in a game promotion in connection with the sale or lease of subdivided land, condominiums, time-share interests or campground memberships unless the game promotion is in compliance with the following regulations…

Office of the New Mexico Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division, Post Office Drawer 1508, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-1508.

A. Manufacturers are required by federal law to label new automobiles with a suggested retail price. See 15 USC 1232. Automobiles as defined by federal law include passenger cars and station wagons. Federal law does not require similar labeling for other vehicles. B. It is an unf…

It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to use the term "invoice" or "invoice price" in advertising unless the term is used in reference to the manufacturer's or distributor's total invoice price on a vehicle and the advertisement clearly and conspicuously includ…

A. If dealer participation in "buying down" an interest rate may affect the final price of the vehicle, it is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to fail to clearly and conspicuously disclose that fact in any advertisement offering the interest rate. B. It is an un…

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to obscure or make misleading any material fact in any advertisement or sales presentation by the use of layout, headlines, illustrations, footnotes, style, sound, length of time, lighting, color or type size of an adver…

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to represent that another product or service is being offered "free" or at no cost with the sale if a product or service usually is sold at a price arrived at through bargaining, rather than at a fixed price. FTC Guideli…

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to use a guaranteed trade-in amount or range of amounts in any advertising. B. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to use a multiple, such as "double", or other type of increased trade-in allowance i…

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to advertise rebates if the dealer raises the price of the vehicle prior to a sale in order to compensate for the allowance of the rebate. B. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to advertise the exis…

It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to advertise a specified finance rate and then have a customer sign a contract with a higher finance rate, unless the advertisement discloses the information specified in Section 18 [now 12.2.4.18 NMAC] for the loan program…

A. The Truth in Lending Act and accompanying regulations govern credit advertising. The following are triggering terms that require certain disclosures to be made in the advertisement: (1) the amount or percentage of any down payment (expressed as either a percentage or dollar am…

A. The Truth in Lending Act and accompanying regulations regulate consumer leases because they represent an alternative to buying on credit. Also, unless certain information is provided, a consumer might easily confuse leasing with purchasing on credit. B. If an advertisement pro…

Motor vehicle dealers.

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to sell a vehicle to a customer for more than the advertised price of the vehicle. B. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to sell a vehicle at a price above the advertised price of the vehicle regard…

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to advertise the price of a new motor vehicle unless the advertised price is the full cash price for which the dealer will sell the vehicle. The only charges that may be excluded from the advertised price are:(1) federal…

A. When a dealer advertises a specific type of vehicle for sale that is not readily available, it is an unfair or deceptive trade practice to fail to disclose the vehicle's lack of availability. B. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to advise prospective cus…

It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to advertise that no down payment is required in connection with the purchase of a vehicle when a down payment or trade-in is in fact required. If only a trade-in is required a dealer may advertise that fact.

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to negotiate the terms of a sale and then add the cost of such items as extended warranty, credit life, dealer preparation, undercoating, etc., to the contract without the customer's knowledge and consent. B. It is an un…

It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to misrepresent or fail to accurately disclose the terms or conditions of an extended service contract.

It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to use initials or abbreviations in an advertisement of a motor vehicle, including the window sticker and supplementary sticker, unless all such initials or abbreviations are clearly defined in the advertisement or window s…

A. When a dealer is selling a vehicle for which a federal Monroney window sticker is required pursuant to 15 USC 1232, it is an unfair or deceptive trade practice to charge or attempt to charge a customer more than the manufacturer's suggested retail price unless the dealer's ask…

It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer or manufacturer to sell a vehicle knowing that it has been returned to a dealer or manufacturer under the terms of the Motor Vehicle Quality Assurance Act, Section 57-16A-1 NMSA 1978 et seq., or any similar law of any other…

A. The attorney general may refer any complaint alleging a violation of these regulations by a dealer participating in an approved self-regulation program to the program. Not more than forty-five (45) days of receiving a complaint by referral from the attorney general, the progra…

New Mexico Unfair Practices Act, Section 57-12-1 NMSA 1978 et seq., and New Mexico False Advertising Act, Section 57-15-1 NMSA 1978 et seq.

If any part of these regulations is held invalid, the remainder and the application thereof shall not be affected.

Original Adoption and Promulgation Tom Udall Attorney General Date: 5/12/93 Readoption and Repromulgation Tom Udall Attorney General Date: 4/9/98 Tom Udall Attorney General

Permanent.

Re-promulgated and reformatted in NMAC format effective as of May 1, 1998 unless a later date is cited at the end of a section or paragraph.

A. The purpose of these regulations is to accomplish two principal objectives. The first is to deter unfair and deceptive practices that result in economic harm to consumers. The second is to provide clear legal standards for motor vehicle advertising to facilitate dealer complia…

All vehicles may be classified as one of the following: A. "Used" shall mean (1) a vehicle that has previously been sold to a retail buyer who has taken possession of the vehicle and the vehicle has been driven a total of at least two hundred (200) miles by one or more retail buy…

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for a dealer to describe a vehicle as new when it is either used or a demonstrator or to describe a vehicle as a demonstrator when it is used. B. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for dealers to use any phrase containing th…

It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for any dealer to advertise or otherwise represent a vehicle as new if the vehicle has been delivered to a retail buyer who signed a contract obligating the buyer to pay the purchase price of the vehicle in exchange for the vehicle and …

Office of the New Mexico Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division, Post Office Drawer 1508, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-1508

A. Any person who makes an environmental marketing claim must retain any and all documents evidencing the prior reasonable basis for the claim for a period of at least two years after the last date on which the claim is made. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for any pe…

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for any person to obscure or make misleading any material fact in any environmental marketing claim by the use of layout, headlines, illustrations, footnotes, style, sound, length of time, lighting, color or type size. B. It is an un…

It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice to make an environmental marketing claim in a way that fails to make clear whether the environmental attribute or benefit being asserted refers to the product, the product's packaging or to a portion or component of the product or packa…

It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice to make an environmental marketing claims in a manner that overstates the environmental attribute or benefit, expressly or by implication. Marketers must avoid implications of significant environmental benefits if the benefits are in fa…

It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice to make an environmental marketing claim that includes a comparative statement unless: A. the claim is presented in a manner that makes the basis for the comparison sufficiently clear to avoid consumer deception; and B. the marketer is …

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice to misrepresent directly or by implication that a product or package offers a general environmental benefit. B. Comment: Unqualified general claims of environmental benefit are difficult to interpret and, depending on their context, …

It is an unfair or deceptive act or practice to misrepresent, directly or by implication, that a product or package is degradable, biodegradable or photodegradable. An unqualified claim that a product or package is degradable, biodegradable or photodegradable must be substantiate…

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice to misrepresent, directly or by implication, that a product or package is compostable. B. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice to make an unqualified claim that a product or package is compostable unless the claim is substanti…

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice to misrepresent, directly or by implication, that a product or package is recyclable. A product or package should not be marketed as recyclable unless it can be collected, separated or otherwise recovered from the solid waste stream …

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice to make a recycled content claim unless the materials for which the claim is made have been recovered or otherwise diverted from the solid waste stream, either during the manufacturing process (pre-consumer) or after consumer use (po…

Marketers and advertisers.

It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice to misrepresent, directly or by implication, that a product or package has been reduced or is lower in weight, volume or toxicity. Source reduction claims must be qualified to the extent necessary to avoid consumer deception about the a…

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice to misrepresent, directly or by implication, that a package is refillable. An unqualified refillable claim should not be asserted unless a system is provided for:(1) the collection and return of the package for refill; or (2) the lat…

It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice to misrepresent, directly or by implication, that a product is safe for or "friendly" to the ozone layer. A direct or implicit claim that a product does not harm the ozone layer is deceptive if the product contains an ozone-depleting su…

If any part of these regulations is held invalid, the remainder and the application thereof shall not be affected.

Original Adoption and Promulgation Tom Udall Attorney General Date: 11/1/94 Readoption and Repromulgation Tom Udall Attorney General Date: 4/9/98 Tom Udall Attorney General

New Mexico Unfair Practices Act, Section 57-12-1 NMSA 1978 et seq. and New Mexico False Advertising Act, Section 57-15-1 NMSA 1978 et seq.