reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
9 V.S.A. § 2404
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 61 - Retail Installment Sales|§ 2404. Investigations and complaints; powers of Commissioner

§ 2404. Investigations and complaints; powers of Commissioner|(a) The Commissioner, if he or she has reasonable cause to believe that any licensee or other person has violated any of the provisions of this chapter, may make such investigation as he or she shall deem necessary, and, to the extent necessary for this purpose, the Commissioner or his or her authorized representative may examine the licensee or any other person and shall have the power to compel the production of all relevant books, records, and documents.(b) Any buyer having reason to believe that this chapter has been violated with respect to this retail installment contract may file with the Commissioner a written complaint setting forth the details of the alleged violation.(c) The Commissioner may issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, records, documents, and other evidence before him or her in any matter over which he or she has jurisdiction, control, or supervision pertaining to this chapter. The Commissioner shall have the power to administer oaths and affirmations to any person whose testimony is required. (Added 1963, No. 221, § 4, eff. Jan. 1, 1964.)
9 V.S.A. § 2407
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 61 - Retail Installment Sales|§ 2407. Scope

§ 2407. Scope|(a) This chapter shall not affect or apply to any loans or to the business of making loans under or in accordance with the laws of this State, nor shall any of the provisions of the loan or interest statutes of this State affect or apply to any retail installment transaction regulated hereunder. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to impair or in any way affect any rule of law applicable to or governing retail installment sales not otherwise subject hereto. This chapter shall apply exclusively to all retail installment transactions as defined in section 2401 of this title.(b) This chapter shall not apply to commercial leases. (Added 1963, No. 221, § 7, eff. Jan. 1, 1964; amended 1989, No. 122, § 22, eff. June 30, 1989; 1989, No. 284 (Adj. Sess.), § 3.)
9 V.S.A. § 2408
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 61 - Retail Installment Sales|§ 2408. Waiver

§ 2408. Waiver|No act or agreement of the retail buyer before or at the time of the making of the retail installment contract, retail charge agreement, or purchase thereunder shall constitute a valid waiver of any of the provisions of this chapter. (Added 1963, No. 221, § 8, eff. Jan. 1, 1964.)
9 V.S.A. § 2409
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 61 - Retail Installment Sales|§ 2409. Penalties

§ 2409. Penalties|(a) In case of failure of any person to comply with any of the provisions of this chapter, such person or any person who acquires a contract or installment account with knowledge of such noncompliance is barred from recovery of any finance charge or of any delinquency, collection, deferral, or refinance charge imposed in connection with such contract or installment account, and the buyer shall have the right to recover from such person an amount equal to any of such charges paid by the buyer with interest thereon from the time of payment and all expenses of collection, including reasonable attorney's fees, in a civil action on this statute.(b) In any case in which a person willfully violates any provision of this chapter, except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, the buyer may recover from such person an amount equal to two times the total of the finance charges and any delinquency, collection, extension, deferral, or refinance charges imposed, contracted for, or received, and the seller shall be barred from the recovery of any such charges. The buyer shall also recover reasonable attorney's fees as determined by the court.(c) A person shall not knowingly or willfully make any retail installment contract under this chapter that directly or indirectly calls for the payment of any finance charges in excess of the legal rate as set forth in this chapter. A contract violating this section shall be unenforceable, and a person shall have no right to collect any principal, finance, or other charges.(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, any failure to comply with any provision of the chapter may be corrected by the holder in accordance with the provisions of this section, provided that a willful violation may not be corrected, and a correction that will increase the amount owed by the owner or the amount of any payment shall not be effective unless the buyer concurs in writing to the correction. If a violation is corrected by the holder in accordance with the provisions of this section, neither the seller nor the holder shall be subject to any penalty under this section. The correction shall be made by delivering to the buyer a corrected copy of the contract within 60 days of the execution of the original contract by the buyer. Any amount improperly collected from the buyer shall be credited against the indebtedness evidenced by the contract.(e) Any person who shall willfully and intentionally violate any provisions of this chapter shall be fined not more than $100.00 for the first offense. Upon conviction for violating this section in any transaction entered into or consummated after a first conviction hereunder, the offender shall be fined not more than $1,000.00 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both. (Added 1963, No. 221, § 9, eff. Jan. 1, 1964; amended 1973, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 2.)
9 V.S.A. § 2410
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 61 - Retail Installment Sales|§ 2410. Prohibition on discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, race, color, religion, national origin, age, or disability

§ 2410. Prohibition on discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, race, color, religion, national origin, age, or disability|No seller shall discriminate against any buyer or prospective buyer who desires to establish a retail installment contract or retail charge agreement because of the sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, race, color, religion, national origin, age, or disability of the buyer. (Added 1973, No. 130 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; amended 1989, No. 122, § 23, eff. June 30, 1989; 1991, No. 135 (Adj. Sess.), § 9; 2007, No. 41, § 12; 2013, No. 96 (Adj. Sess.), § 29.)
9 V.S.A. § 2431
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 62 - Protection of Personal Information|§ 2431. Acquisition of brokered personal information; prohibitions

§ 2431. Acquisition of brokered personal information; prohibitions|(a) Prohibited acquisition and use.  (1) A person shall not acquire brokered personal information through fraudulent means. (2) A person shall not acquire or use brokered personal information for the purpose of:  (A) stalking or harassing another person; (B) committing a fraud, including identity theft, financial fraud, or e-mail fraud; or (C) engaging in unlawful discrimination, including employment discrimination and housing discrimination.    (b) Enforcement.  (1) A person who violates a provision of this section commits an unfair and deceptive act in commerce in violation of section 2453 of this title. (2) The Attorney General has the same authority to adopt rules to implement the provisions of this section and to conduct civil investigations, enter into assurances of discontinuance, bring civil actions, and take other enforcement actions as provided under chapter 63, subchapter 1 of this title. (Added 2017, No. 171 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. Jan. 1, 2019.)
9 V.S.A. § 2443a
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 62 - Protection of Personal Information|§ 2443a. Operator prohibitions

§ 2443a. Operator prohibitions|(a) An operator shall not knowingly do any of the following with respect to its site, service, or application:  (1) Engage in targeted advertising on the operator's site, service, or application or target advertising on any other site, service, or application if the targeting of the advertising is based on any information, including covered information and persistent unique identifiers, that the operator has acquired because of the use of that operator's site, service, or application for PreK-12 school purposes. (2) Use information, including a persistent unique identifier, that is created or gathered by the operator's site, service, or application to amass a profile about a student, except in furtherance of PreK-12 school purposes. "Amass a profile" does not include the collection and retention of account information that remains under the control of the student, the student's parent or legal guardian, or the school. (3) Sell, barter, or rent a student's information, including covered information. This subdivision (3) does not apply to the purchase, merger, or other type of acquisition of an operator by another entity if the operator or successor entity complies with this subchapter regarding previously acquired student information. (4) Except as otherwise provided in section 2443c of this title, disclose covered information, unless the disclosure is made for one or more of the following purposes and is proportionate to the identifiable information necessary to accomplish the purpose:  (A) to further the PreK-12 school purposes of the site, service, or application, provided:  (i) the recipient of the covered information does not further disclose the information except to allow or improve operability and functionality of the operator's site, service, or application; and (ii) the covered information is not used for a purpose inconsistent with this subchapter;  (B) to ensure legal and regulatory compliance or take precautions against liability; (C) to respond to judicial process; (D) to protect the safety or integrity of users of the site or others or the security of the site, service, or application; (E) for a school, educational, or employment purpose requested by the student or the student's parent or legal guardian, provided that the information is not used or further disclosed for any other purpose; or (F) to a third party if the operator contractually prohibits the third party from using any covered information for any purpose other than providing the contracted service to or on behalf of the operator, prohibits the third party from disclosing any covered information provided by the operator to subsequent third parties, and requires the third party to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices.    (b) This section does not prohibit an operator's use of information for maintaining, developing, supporting, improving, or diagnosing the operator's site, service, or application. (Added 2019, No. 89 (Adj. Sess.), § 4.)
9 V.S.A. § 2443b
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 62 - Protection of Personal Information|§ 2443b. Operator duties

§ 2443b. Operator duties|An operator shall:  (1) implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the covered information and designed to protect that covered information from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure; (2) delete, within a reasonable time period and to the extent practicable, a student's covered information if the school or school district requests deletion of covered information under the control of the school or school district, unless a student or his or her parent or legal guardian consents to the maintenance of the covered information; and (3) publicly disclose and provide the school with material information about its collection, use, and disclosure of covered information, including publishing a term of service agreement, privacy policy, or similar document. (Added 2019, No. 89 (Adj. Sess.), § 4.)
9 V.S.A. § 2443c
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 62 - Protection of Personal Information|§ 2443c. Permissive use or disclosure

§ 2443c. Permissive use or disclosure|An operator may use or disclose covered information of a student under the following circumstances:  (1) if other provisions of federal or State law require the operator to disclose the information and the operator complies with the requirements of federal and State law in protecting and disclosing that information; (2) for legitimate research purposes as required by State or federal law and subject to the restrictions under applicable State and federal law or as allowed by State or federal law and under the direction of a school, school district, or the State Board of Education if the covered information is not used for advertising or to amass a profile on the student for purposes other than for PreK-12 school purposes; and (3) disclosure to a State or local educational agency, including schools and school districts, for PreK-12 school purposes as permitted by State or federal law. (Added 2019, No. 89 (Adj. Sess.), § 4.)
9 V.S.A. § 2443d
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 62 - Protection of Personal Information|§ 2443d. Operator actions that are not prohibited

§ 2443d. Operator actions that are not prohibited|This subchapter does not prohibit an operator from doing any of the following:  (1) using covered information to improve educational products if that information is not associated with an identified student within the operator's site, service, or application or other sites, services, or applications owned by the operator; (2) using covered information that is not associated with an identified student to demonstrate the effectiveness of the operator's products or services, including in their marketing; (3) sharing covered information that is not associated with an identified student for the development and improvement of educational sites, services, or applications; (4) using recommendation engines to recommend to a student either of the following:  (A) additional content relating to an educational, other learning, or employment opportunity purpose within an online site, service, or application if the recommendation is not determined in whole or in part by payment or other consideration from a third party; or (B) additional services relating to an educational, other learning, or employment opportunity purpose within an online site, service, or application if the recommendation is not determined in whole or in part by payment or other consideration from a third party; and  (5) responding to a student's request for information or for feedback without the information or response being determined in whole or in part by payment or other consideration from a third party. (Added 2019, No. 89 (Adj. Sess.), § 4.)
9 V.S.A. § 2443e
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 62 - Protection of Personal Information|§ 2443e. Applicability

§ 2443e. Applicability|This subchapter does not:  (1) limit the authority of a law enforcement agency to obtain any content or information from an operator as authorized by law or under a court order; (2) limit the ability of an operator to use student data, including covered information, for adaptive learning or customized student learning purposes; (3) apply to general audience Internet websites, general audience online services, general audience online applications, or general audience mobile applications, even if login credentials created for an operator's site, service, or application may be used to access those general audience sites, services, or applications; (4) limit service providers from providing Internet connectivity to schools or students and their families; (5) prohibit an operator of an Internet website, online service, online application, or mobile application from marketing educational products directly to parents if the marketing did not result from the use of covered information obtained by the operator through the provision of services covered under this subchapter; (6) impose a duty upon a provider of an electronic store, gateway, marketplace, or other means of purchasing or downloading software or applications to review or enforce compliance with this subchapter on those applications or software; (7) impose a duty upon a provider of an interactive computer service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 230, to review or enforce compliance with this subchapter by third-party content providers; (8) prohibit students from downloading, exporting, transferring, saving, or maintaining their own student-created data or documents; or (9) supersede the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act or rules adopted pursuant to that Act. (Added 2019, No. 89 (Adj. Sess.), § 4.)
9 V.S.A. § 2443f
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 62 - Protection of Personal Information|§ 2443f. Enforcement

§ 2443f. Enforcement|A person who violates a provision of this chapter commits an unfair and deceptive act in commerce in violation of section 2453 of this title. (Added 2019, No. 89 (Adj. Sess.), § 4.)
9 V.S.A. § 2446
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 62 - Protection of Personal Information|§ 2446. Annual registration

§ 2446. Annual registration|(a) Annually, on or before January 31 following a year in which a person meets the definition of data broker as provided in section 2430 of this title, a data broker shall:  (1) register with the Secretary of State; (2) pay a registration fee of $100.00; and (3) provide the following information:  (A) the name and primary physical, e-mail, and Internet addresses of the data broker; (B) if the data broker permits a consumer to opt out of the data broker's collection of brokered personal information, opt out of its databases, or opt out of certain sales of data:  (i) the method for requesting an opt-out; (ii) if the opt-out applies to only certain activities or sales, which ones; and (iii) whether the data broker permits a consumer to authorize a third party to perform the opt-out on the consumer's behalf;  (C) a statement specifying the data collection, databases, or sales activities from which a consumer may not opt out; (D) a statement whether the data broker implements a purchaser credentialing process; (E) the number of data broker security breaches that the data broker has experienced during the prior year, and if known, the total number of consumers affected by the breaches; (F) where the data broker has actual knowledge that it possesses the brokered personal information of minors, a separate statement detailing the data collection practices, databases, sales activities, and opt-out policies that are applicable to the brokered personal information of minors; and (G) any additional information or explanation the data broker chooses to provide concerning its data collection practices.    (b) A data broker that fails to register pursuant to subsection (a) of this section is liable to the State for:  (1) a civil penalty of $50.00 for each day, not to exceed a total of $10,000.00 for each year, it fails to register pursuant to this section; (2) an amount equal to the fees due under this section during the period it failed to register pursuant to this section; and (3) other penalties imposed by law.   (c) The Attorney General may maintain an action in the Civil Division of the Superior Court to collect the penalties imposed in this section and to seek appropriate injunctive relief. (Added 2017, No. 171 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. Jan. 1, 2019.)
9 V.S.A. § 2451
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 63 - Consumer Protection|§ 2451. Purpose

§ 2451. Purpose|The purpose of this chapter is to complement the enforcement of federal statutes and decisions governing unfair methods of competition, unfair or deceptive acts or practices, and anti-competitive practices in order to protect the public and to encourage fair and honest competition. (Added 1967, No. 132, § 1, eff. April 17, 1967; amended 2011, No. 168 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. May 18, 2012.)
9 V.S.A. § 2452
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 63 - Consumer Protection|§ 2452. Limitation

§ 2452. Limitation|(a) Nothing in this chapter shall apply to the owner or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, publication, or printed matter, or to a provider of an interactive computer service, wherein an advertisement or offer to sell appears, or to the owner or operator of a radio or television station that disseminates an advertisement or offer to sell, when the owner, publisher, operator, or provider has no knowledge of the fraudulent intent, design, or purpose of the advertiser or offeror, and is not responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development of the advertisement or offer to sell.(b) In this section, "interactive computer service" has the same meaning as in 47 U.S.C. § 230(f)(2). (Added 1967, No. 132, § 1, eff. April 17, 1967; amended 2015, No. 55, § 9.)
9 V.S.A. § 2453
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 63 - Consumer Protection|§ 2453. Practices prohibited; antitrust and consumer protection

§ 2453. Practices prohibited; antitrust and consumer protection|(a) Unfair methods of competition in commerce and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce are hereby declared unlawful.(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that in construing subsection (a) of this section, the courts of this State will be guided by the construction of similar terms contained in Section 5(a)(1) of the Federal Trade Commission Act as from time to time amended by the Federal Trade Commission and the courts of the United States.(c) The Attorney General shall adopt rules, when necessary and proper to carry out the purposes of this chapter, relating to unfair methods of competition in commerce and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce. The rules shall not be inconsistent with the rules, regulations, and decisions of the Federal Trade Commission and the federal courts interpreting the Federal Trade Commission Act.(d) Violation of a rule adopted by the Attorney General is prima facie proof of the commission of an unfair or deceptive act in commerce.(e) The provisions of subsections (a), (c), and (d) of this section shall also be applicable to real estate transactions. (Added 1967, No. 132, § 1, eff. April 17, 1967; amended 1969, No. 45, § 8, eff. April 4, 1969; 1969, No. 278 (Adj. Sess.); 1973, No. 221 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. June 7, 1974; 1999, No. 65 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2011, No. 109 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. May 8, 2012; 2011, No. 136 (Adj. Sess.), § 1a, eff. May 18, 2012; 2017, No. 74, § 13.)
9 V.S.A. § 2453a
2021 Vermont Statutes|Title 9 - Commerce and Trade|Chapter 63 - Consumer Protection|§ 2453a. Practices prohibited; criminal antitrust violations

§ 2453a. Practices prohibited; criminal antitrust violations|(a) Collusion is hereby declared to be a crime.(b) Subsection (a) of this section shall not be construed to apply to activities of or arrangements between or among persons that are permitted, authorized, approved, or required by federal or state statutes or regulations.(c) It is the intent of the General Assembly that in construing this section and subdivision 2451a(8) of this title, the courts of this State shall be guided by the construction of federal antitrust law and the Sherman Act, as amended, as interpreted by the courts of the United States.(d) Nothing in this section limits the power of the Attorney General or a State's Attorney to bring civil actions for antitrust violations under section 2453 of this title.(e) A violation of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than $100,000.00 for an individual or $1,000,000.00 for any other person or by imprisonment not to exceed five years, or both. (Added 2011, No. 168 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. May 18, 2012; amended 2021, No. 20, § 17.)