Title 59.1, Trade and Commerce

It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly sell, rent, cause to be sold or rented, or possess for the purpose of selling or renting any recorded device that has been produced, manufactured, distributed, or acquired in violation of any provision of this chapter.

Ninety days after July 1, 1972, every recorded device sold, rented or transferred or possessed for the purpose of sale, rental or transfer by any manufacturer, distributor, or wholesale or retail merchant shall contain on its packaging the true name and address of the manufacture…

Ninety days after July 1, 1972, it shall be the duty of all law-enforcement officers, upon discovery, to confiscate all recorded devices that do not conform to the provisions of § 59.1-41.4. The nonconforming recorded devices shall be delivered to the attorney for the Commonwealt…

Violations of this chapter are punishable as follows: 1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, any person convicted of an offense under this chapter is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. 2. Any person convicted of an offense involving at least 100 unlawful sound recordings …

As used in this chapter, which shall be known and may be cited as the "Prizes and Gifts Act": "Anything of value," "item of value" or "item" means any item or service with monetary value. "Handling charge" means any charge, fee or sum of money which is paid by a consumer to recei…

A. No person shall, in connection with the sale or lease or solicitation for the sale or lease of goods, property, or service, represent that another person has won anything of value or is the winner of a contest, unless all of the following conditions are met: 1. The recipient o…

A. No person shall, in connection with the sale or lease or solicitation for sale or lease of goods, property or service, represent that another person has a chance to win or to receive a prize, gift or item of value without clearly and conspicuously disclosing on whose behalf th…

A. No person shall represent that another person has been specially selected in connection with the sale or lease or solicitation for sale or lease of goods, property, or service, unless the selection process is designed to reach a particular type or types of persons. B. The use …

In connection with a consumer transaction, no person shall issue any writing which simulates or resembles (i) a check unless the writing clearly and conspicuously discloses its true value and purpose, and the writing would not mislead a reasonable person or (ii) an invoice unless…

A. It shall be unlawful to notify a person that he will receive a gift, prize or item of value and that as a condition of receiving the gift, prize or item of value he will be required to pay any money, or purchase or lease (including rent) any goods or services, if any one or mo…

Any consumer who suffers loss by reason of a violation of any provision of this chapter may bring a civil action to enforce such provisions. Any consumer who is successful in such an action shall recover reasonable attorney's fees, and court costs incurred by bringing such action…

Any violation of this chapter shall constitute a prohibited practice under the provisions of § 59.1-200 and shall be subject to any of the enforcement provisions of Chapter 17 (§ 59.1-196 et seq.) of this title.

The provisions of §§ 59.1-417 through 59.1-420 shall not apply to the sale or purchase, or solicitation or representation in connection therewith, of goods from a catalog or of books, recordings, videocassettes, periodicals and similar goods through a membership group or club whi…

This chapter may be cited as the "Virginia Public Telephone Information Act."

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Alternate operator services provider" means a telecommunications company, other than a local exchange company or interexchange company certificated by the State Corporation Commission or an affiliate or ag…

A. Any public telephone equipment provider shall conspicuously display the identity of the company which will normally make the charge for any intrastate long distance calls or local operator-assisted calls not handled by the local exchange telephone company placed from such equi…

Any violation of the provisions of this chapter shall constitute a prohibited practice pursuant to the provisions of § 59.1-200 and shall be subject to any and all of the enforcement provisions of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act, Chapter 17 (§ 59.1-196 et seq.) of this title…

As used in this chapter: "Division" means the Division of Consumer Counsel in the Department of Law. "Information provider" means any person providing pay-per-call services. "Long distance carrier" means any interexchange telephone company providing services within the Commonweal…

A. Every pay-per-call service advertisement or solicitation shall disclose (i) that a fee in excess of applicable telephone company or long distance carrier charges, if any, is charged for calls to the telephone number provided; (ii) the per-minute or flat-rate charges for the ca…

Every telephone company and long distance carrier shall furnish the following information on any telephone customer's bill that contains charges for pay-per-call services: (i) the pay-per-call number called; (ii) the date, time, and length of the call; and (iii) the amount charge…

The Division is authorized to prescribe reasonable regulations in order to implement provisions in this chapter relating to pay-per-call service advertising or solicitation. These regulations shall be adopted, amended, or repealed in accordance with the Administrative Process Act…

A. The Division may, with respect to pay-per-call service advertising or solicitation: 1. Make necessary public and private investigations within or without this Commonwealth to determine whether any person has violated the provisions of this chapter, or any rule, regulation, or …

Any violation of this chapter shall constitute a prohibited practice under the provisions of § 59.1-200 and shall be subject to any and all of the enforcement provisions of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act (§ 59.1-196 et seq.) of this title.

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Board" means the Virginia Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services. "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services or his designee. "Consumer product" means …

A. It shall be unlawful for any extended service contract provider to offer, advertise, or execute or cause to be executed by the purchaser any extended service contract for a consumer product in this Commonwealth unless the obligor at the time of the solicitation, offer, adverti…

A. In order to ensure the faithful performance of a third party obligor's obligations to its contract holders, each third party obligor shall furnish proof of its financial stability by complying with either of the following: 1. The third party obligor shall show that it has a ne…

A. The Commissioner may deny an application for registration of an obligor under § 59.1-436 or may suspend or revoke such registration if the Commissioner finds that such action is necessary for the protection of purchasers or prospective purchasers or that any one of the followi…

A. The Board is authorized to adopt reasonable regulations in order to implement provisions in this chapter relating to extended service contracts. These regulations shall be adopted, amended, or repealed in accordance with the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.). B. …

A. The Commissioner may, with respect to extended service contracts: 1. Make necessary public and private investigations within or without this Commonwealth to determine whether any person has violated the provisions of this chapter or any rule, regulation, or order issued pursua…

Every extended service contract obligor, upon written request of the Commissioner, shall make available to the Commissioner its extended service contract records for inspection and copying to enable the Commissioner to reasonably determine compliance with this chapter. Every obli…

Extended service contracts are (i) not contracts of insurance in the Commonwealth and (ii) not subject to regulation under Title 38.2.

A. Any extended service provider who knowingly and willfully violates any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor. B. Any violation of the provisions of this chapter shall constitute a prohibited practice pursuant to the provisions of § 59.1-200 and sha…

A. No merchant, without giving notice to the purchaser, shall sell to any third person information that concerns the purchaser and that is gathered in connection with the sale, rental, or exchange of tangible personal property to the purchaser at the merchant's place of business.…

Section 59.1-442 shall not apply to: (i) information gathered for purposes of extending credit or the recording and sale, rental, exchange or disclosure to others of information obtained from any public body as defined in the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq…

A. As used in this section: "Check" shall have the same meaning as defined in § 8.3A-104. B. Except as provided in subsection C, no person who accepts checks for the transaction of business shall, as a condition of accepting the check, record, or request or require a person to re…

A. Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, a person shall not: 1. Intentionally communicate another individual's social security number to the general public; 2. Print an individual's social security number on any card required for the individual to access or receive pr…

A. No merchant may scan the machine-readable zone of a driver's license or other document issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles under Chapter 3 (§ 46.2-300 et seq.) of Title 46.2 or the comparable law of another jurisdiction, except for the following purposes: 1. To verify a…

A person aggrieved by a violation of any provision of this chapter, except § 59.1-443.2, shall be entitled to institute an action to recover damages in the amount of $100 per violation. In addition, if the aggrieved party prevails, he may be awarded reasonable attorney's fees and…

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Accommodations" means any real property improvement provided by the travel club to its members for lodging purposes, including, without limitation, condominiums, hotels, motels or motor courts. "Board" mea…

A. It shall be unlawful for any travel club to offer or cause to be executed in this Commonwealth by the purchaser any travel services agreement unless such travel club at the time of such offering, or execution thereof has been properly registered with the Commissioner. Such reg…

A. Every travel club, before entering into a travel services agreement with a purchaser of travel services, shall file and maintain with the Commissioner, in a form and substance satisfactory to him, a bond with corporate surety from a company authorized to transact business in t…

A. Any deposit made in connection with the execution of a travel services agreement shall be held in escrow. All cash deposits shall be held in a separate bank account labeled and designated solely for that purpose. Such escrow account shall be insured by an instrumentality of th…

A. The travel services agreement shall contain a written disclosure of all limitations on and terms of the membership and shall be provided to the purchaser at the time the agreement is executed. The disclosure shall clearly and conspicuously include: 1. The name, business addres…

A. The travel club shall prepare and distribute to any prospective purchaser, before execution thereby of a travel services agreement, a public offering statement which discloses fully and accurately the characteristics of the travel club and its travel services, the membership o…

It shall be unlawful for any travel club to engage in any or all of the following practices: 1. Offer any other type of promotional inducement where the cost of the package equals or exceeds the cost which would have been incurred without the travel club membership; 2. Misreprese…

The Board is authorized to prescribe reasonable regulations in order to implement the provisions of this chapter. These regulations shall be adopted, amended, or repealed in accordance with the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.).