Title 39, Trade and Commerce

Upon petition by the Attorney General, the court of common pleas may, for good cause shown, order the dissolution or suspension or forfeiture of any franchise or charter of any corporation which violates the terms of any injunction issued under Section 39-5-50.

It shall be the duty of the solicitors of each judicial circuit and all county and city attorneys to lend to the Attorney General such assistance as the Attorney General may request in the commencement and prosecution of actions pursuant to this article, or any solicitor or count…

(a) Any person who suffers any ascertainable loss of money or property, real or personal, as a result of the use or employment by another person of an unfair or deceptive method, act or practice declared unlawful by Section 39-5-20 may bring an action individually, but not in a r…

(A) As used in this section: (1) "Abnormal disruption of the market" means a change in the market for a commodity in a part of South Carolina, whether actual or imminently threatened, resulting from stress of weather, forces of nature, failure or shortage of electric power or oth…

(A) Upon a declaration of a state of emergency by the Governor, it is unlawful and a violation of this article for a person or his agent or employee to solicit the contribution or sale of goods or services for charitable purposes by any manner, means, practice, or device that is …

A trade association, corporation, or partnership may register an agent for the purposes of being notified when the Governor declares and terminates a state of emergency. A trade association may designate up to three persons to be notified on behalf of the organization's members. …

No action may be brought under this article more than three years after discovery of the unlawful conduct which is the subject of the suit.

The powers and remedies provided by this article shall be cumulative and supplementary to all powers and remedies otherwise provided by law.

It is an unfair trade practice and unlawful for a person who is acting on behalf of or engaged in a vehicle glass repair business to offer or make a payment or transfer money or other consideration to: (1) a third person for the third person's referral of an insurance claimant to…

It is an unlawful practice for a person who sells, repairs, or replaces vehicle glass to knowingly: (1) submit a claim to an insurer or a third party administrator for vehicle glass repair, replacement, or related services: (a) if the vehicle glass was not damaged prior to repair…

(a) Unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce are hereby declared unlawful. (b) It is the intent of the legislature that in construing paragraph (a) of this section the courts will be guided by the interpretati…

For the purpose of this article: (1) A "wholesale" sale shall be one made to any person for the purpose of resale at retail; and (2) A "retail sale" shall be a sale for the purpose of consumption or use.

It is declared an unfair trade practice and unlawful for any person who is in both the wholesale and retail business of selling merchandise to sell merchandise of like grade and quality at retail at a price as low as such person sells the same merchandise at wholesale in the same…

(A) Except as otherwise permitted to meet competition as provided by this chapter, it is declared an unfair trade practice and unlawful for any person who is in the retail business of selling motor fuel to sell motor fuel of like grade and quality at retail at a price which is be…

It is declared an unfair trade practice and unlawful for any person who is in both the wholesale and retail business of selling merchandise to sell merchandise of like grade and quality at retail at a lower price than such person sells the same merchandise at wholesale in the sam…

When a wholesaler owns a controlling interest or stock in a retail establishment or corporation and creates, organizes or maintains such retail outlet for the purpose of violating this article by making retail sales therefrom at a price that would be in violation of this article …

It shall be an unlawful trade practice under Section 39-5-20 for any person engaged in the business of lending money to make it a condition of obtaining a loan for the purchase of an automobile that the borrower carry full coverage comprehensive or fifty dollars collision coverag…

(A) No part of this article shall be construed to apply to sales at wholesale to hotels, restaurants, colleges, bona fide licensed contractors, farmers buying for their plantations, including labor on their own farms, boardinghouses, religious institutions, or county, city, feder…

(A) A person or firm who knowingly purchases a quantity of tickets for admission to an event which exceeds the maximum quantity posted by or on behalf of the original ticket seller at the point of original sale or printed on the tickets and intends to resell the tickets in excess…

Each sale in violation of the terms of this article shall be declared a separate offense and the penalty for each violation thereof shall be a fine of not more than one hundred dollars or imprisonment for not more than thirty days in the discretion of the court.

It shall be an unlawful trade practice under Section 39-5-20 to use an assumed or fictitious name in the conduct of a business to intentionally misrepresent the geographic origin, ownership of manufacturing facilities, or location of such business.

(A) For purposes of this section: (1) "performing person or group" means a vocal or instrumental performer seeking to use the name of another person or group that has previously produced or released, or both, a commercial recording; (2) "recording person or group" means a vocal o…

Notwithstanding another provision of law, it is an unlawful trade practice, pursuant to Section 39-5-20, for an attorney to advertise his services in this State in a false, deceptive, or misleading manner including, but not limited to, the use of a nickname that creates an unreas…

Nothing in this article shall apply to: (a) Actions or transactions permitted under laws administered by any regulatory body or officer acting under statutory authority of this State or the United States or actions or transactions permitted by any other South Carolina State law. …

(A) For purposes of this section "food" or "food product" is an article that is produced, raised, caught, or harvested for human consumption. (B) It is an unfair trade practice pursuant to Section 39-5-20 knowingly and wilfully to misrepresent food or a food product if the food o…

(a) Whenever the Attorney General has reasonable cause to believe that any person is using, has used or is about to use any method, act or practice declared by Section 39-5-20 to be unlawful, and that proceedings would be in the public interest, he may bring an action in the name…

When used in this article: (a) "Theater" means any establishment in which motion pictures are exhibited to the public regularly for a charge. (b) "Distributor" means any person engaged in the business of distributing or supplying motion pictures to exhibitors by rental or licensi…

(a) Blind bidding is prohibited in this State. No bids shall be returnable; no negotiations for the exhibition or licensing of a motion picture shall take place and no license agreement or any of its terms shall be agreed to for the exhibition of any motion picture in this State …

If bids are solicited from exhibitors for the licensing of a motion picture in the State: (a) The invitation to bid shall specify (1) the number and length of runs for which the bid is being solicited, whether it is a first, second or subsequent run and the geographic area for ea…

If the first run exhibitors within any county in this State desire to waive the provisions of this article for the purpose of blind bidding on a movie to be shown within that county, the exhibitors may waive the provisions and blind bid if all exhibitors within that county who ex…

The provisions of this article shall apply to all motion picture licensing contracts executed within or without this State for the exhibition of motion pictures in South Carolina.

Any person violating the provisions of this article shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars or be imprisoned for not more than six months.

In the administration of this article, the Attorney General may accept an assurance of voluntary compliance with respect to any method, act or practice deemed to be in violation of this article from any person who has engaged in, is engaging in, or is about to engage in such meth…

(a) When it appears to the Attorney General that a person has engaged in, is engaging in, or is about to engage in any act or practice declared to be unlawful by this article, or when he believes it to be in the public interests that an investigation should be made to ascertain w…

This article must be known and may be cited as the "Pyramid Promotional Scheme Prohibition Act".

As used in this article: (1) "Compensation" means the payment of money, a thing of value, or a benefit. (2) "Consideration" means either the payment of money or the provision of a thing of value for the purchase of a product, good, service, or intangible property. Consideration d…

A pyramid promotional scheme is an unfair trade practice pursuant to Section 39-5-20(a), and accordingly, is prohibited in this State.

To accomplish the objectives and to carry out the duties prescribed by this article, the Attorney General, in addition to other powers conferred upon him by this article, may issue subpoenas to any person, administer an oath or affirmation to any person, conduct hearings in aid o…

This article may be cited as the "South Carolina Earned Wage Access Services Act".

As used in this article, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the term: (1) "Consumer" means a natural person residing in the State of South Carolina. A provider may use the mailing address provided by a consumer to determine such consumer's state of residence for purpo…

(1) A person, including a person that is not physically located in this State, may not provide earned wage access in this State unless the person is registered under this article as a provider. This article does not apply to any person doing business under authority of and as per…

A provider shall comply with all of the following requirements: (1) The provider shall develop and implement policies and procedures to respond to questions raised by consumers and address complaints from consumers in an expedient manner. (2) The provider shall offer to the consu…

No person subject to this article shall do any of the following: (1) share with an employer any fees, voluntary tips, gratuities, or other donations that were received from or charged to a consumer for earned wage access services; (2) charge a late fee, interest, or any other pen…

The following shall apply in connection with the earned wage access services offered and provided by a provider in compliance with the provisions of this article: (A) Proceeds provided to a consumer by the provider shall not be considered a consumer loan for purposes of Section 3…

(1) A provider shall maintain records of its earned wage access services transactions and shall preserve its records for at least two years after the final date on which it provides proceeds to a consumer. A provider shall keep such books and records that, in the opinion of the d…

Upon satisfactory evidence that a provider has violated or failed to comply with a provision of this article or regulation promulgated pursuant to the authority of this article, the department may issue an order requiring the provider to cease and desist from engaging in the viol…