2023 New York Laws › AGM - Agriculture and Markets › Article 17 - Adulteration, Packing, and Branding of Food and Food Products › 214-H - Unit Pricing.

§ 214-h. Unit  pricing.  1. Consumer information required. Each person
who sells, offers or exposes for sale  in  a  retail  store  a  consumer
commodity  shall  disclose  to the consumer the unit price and the total
price of the commodity as provided in this section.
2. Definitions. a. "Consumer commodities" shall  mean  the  following,
however packaged or contained:
(1)  food,  including  all  material,  solid, liquid or mixed, whether
simple or compound, used or intended for consumption by human beings  or
domestic  animals  normally kept as household pets and all substances or
ingredients to be added thereto for any purpose; and
(2) napkins, facial tissues, toilet tissues,  foil  wrapping,  plastic
wrapping, paper toweling, disposable plates; and
(3) detergents, soaps and other cleansing agents; and
(4) non-prescription drugs, female hygiene products and toiletries.
b.  "Retail store" shall mean a store which sells consumer commodities
at retail, which store is not primarily engaged in the sale of food  for
consumption  on  the  premises,  or  which is not primarily engaged in a
specialty trade which the commissioner determines, by regulation,  would
be inappropriate for unit pricing. An establishment which sells consumer
commodities  only  to  its members shall be deemed to be included within
this definition unless the members must pay a direct fee to qualify  for
membership and the establishment is not required to collect sales tax on
transactions  with  members, pursuant to article twenty-eight of the tax
law.
c. "Unit price" of a consumer  commodity  shall  mean  the  price  per
measure.
d. "Price per measure" shall mean:
(1) price per pound for commodities whose net quantity is expressed in
units  of  weight,  except for such commodities whose net weight is less
than one  ounce  which  shall  be  expressed  as  price  per  ounce  and
commodities  in powdered form which purport to be or are represented for
special dietary use solely as a  food  for  infants  by  reason  of  its
simulation  of  human  milk  or  suitability  as  a  complete or partial
substitute for  human  milk  which  shall  be  expressed  as  price  per
reconstituted  fluid  ounce;  provided  that the same unit of measure is
used for the same commodity in all sizes;
(2) price per pint or quart for  commodities  whose  net  quantity  is
stated  in  fluid  ounces,  pints,  quarts  or  gallons or a combination
thereof, except for such commodities in concentrated liquid or ready  to
feed form which purport to be or are represented for special dietary use
solely  as  a food for infants by reason of its simulation of human milk
or suitability as a complete or partial substitute for human milk  which
shall   be   expressed  as  price  per  reconstituted  fluid  ounce  for
commodities in concentrated liquid form and price per  fluid  ounce  for
commodities  in  ready  to  feed  form;  provided  that the same unit of
measure is used for the same commodity in all sizes sold in  the  retail
establishment;
(3)  price  per  one  hundred  for  commodities  whose net quantity is
expressed by count, except as otherwise provided by regulation;
(4) price per foot for commodities whose net  quantity  is  stated  in
units  of length, except for such commodities whose net quantity exceeds
one hundred feet, which shall be expressed  as  price  per  one  hundred
feet,  and  the  "ply"  count,  if  any,  provided that the same unit of
measure is used for the same commodity in all sizes;
(5) price  per  square  foot  or  square  yard,  as  appropriate,  for
commodities  whose  net  quantity  is expressed in units of area and the
"ply" count, if any, provided that the same unit of measure is used  for
the same commodity in all sizes; or
(6)  such other price per measure, including metric equivalents of the
customary measures, as the commissioner shall by regulation permit.  The
commissioner   shall  establish  such  metric  equivalents  whenever  he
determines that any commodity subject to the provisions of this  section
is being sold, offered or exposed for sale by metric measure.
3.  Exemptions.  a.  The provisions of this section shall not apply to
the following consumer commodities:
(1) food sold for consumption on the premises;
(2) prepackaged food containing separate  and  identifiable  kinds  of
food  segregated  by physical division within the package; and any other
foods for which the commissioner determines, by  rules  and  regulation,
that unit pricing would not be meaningful;
(3)  any food which is primarily or exclusively a gourmet or specialty
food, provided that the commissioner determines by regulation that  unit
pricing  would  be  impractical for such food, and provided further that
such food is segregated and displayed as a gourmet or specialty food;
(4) any commodity whose net quantity as offered for sale is one pound,
one ounce, one pint or quart, one hundred count, one foot,  one  hundred
feet,  one  square  foot,  one  square  yard  or equivalent metric units
established by the commissioner, provided that it has the  retail  price
marked plainly thereon;
(5) milk, and other similar low fat products such as two percent milk,
one percent milk and skim milk, cream, melloream and vegetable oil blend
whose  net  quantity as offered for sale is one half pint, one pint, one
quart, one half gallon, one gallon, one half liter,  one  liter;  frozen
desserts such as ice cream, light ice cream, low-fat ice cream, fat-free
ice cream, sherbet, sorbet, frozen yogurt, and any other product similar
in  appearance,  odor  and  taste to such products whose net quantity as
offered for sale is one half pint, one pint, one quart, one half gallon,
one gallon, and multiples of quarts and gallons; and  butter,  vegetable
spread,  oleo  margarine  and margarine whose net quantity is one fourth
pound, one half pound, one pound or multiples of one pound, one  hundred
twenty-five  grams,  two  hundred  fifty  grams,  five  hundred grams or
multiples of five hundred grams, flour whose net quantity as offered for
sale is in five or ten pound bags;
(6) fresh food produce.
b. The provisions of this  section  shall  not  apply  to  convenience
stores  which  include  small  stores  which  typically sell motor fuel,
tobacco products, fast food and beverages and do  not  offer  sufficient
quantity  of  consumer  commodities  to  make  unit  pricing  useful  to
consumers or to any retail  store  having  had  annual  gross  sales  of
consumer  commodities in the previous calendar year of less than two and
one-half million dollars, unless the store is a part  of  a  network  of
subsidiaries,  affiliates  or  other  member  stores,  under  direct  or
indirect common control, with five or more stores located in  New  York,
which,  as a group, had annual gross sales the previous calendar year of
two and one-half million dollars or more of consumer commodities.
4. Means of disclosure. A consumer commodity sold, or offered for sale
or exposed for sale, subject to this section, shall have the unit  price
and total price disclosed to the consumer in one of the following ways:
a.  if  the  item  is  conspicuously  visible  to the consumer, by the
attachment of a stamp, tag or label directly under the item on the shelf
on which the item is displayed, or, in the case  of  refrigerated  items
not displayed on shelves, in a manner to be prescribed by regulation; or
b. if the item is not conspicuously visible to the consumer, by a sign
or  list  conspicuously  placed  near  the  point  of procurement, or by
affixing the unit price and total price on the commodity itself.
5. The commissioner may  promulgate  regulations  to  effectuate  this
section.
6.  Nothing  in  this  section  shall be construed to conflict with or
limit section one hundred ninety of this chapter.
7. Violations and penalties. a. A violation of this section  shall  be
subject  to  the  applicable  penalties  of  this chapter except for the
penalties specified in section forty-one thereof.
For purposes  of  this  section,  each  group  of  identical  consumer
commodities for which on any single day the total selling price or price
per  measure  is  not  displayed  in accordance with this section or the
regulations promulgated thereunder shall be considered  a  violation  of
this  section.  Improper unit pricing caused by nonintentional technical
errors, however, shall not constitute a violation.
b. Each group of units not unit priced or improperly unit priced shall
constitute a violation. Each individual unit, however, not  unit  priced
or  improperly  unit  priced  shall  not  constitute  a violation unless
displayed alone.
c. Each day a violation  is  continued  shall  constitute  a  separate
violation.
d.  The  provisions  of  this  section and the regulations promulgated
hereunder may be enforced concurrently by the director  of  a  municipal
consumer affairs office or a municipal director of weights and measures.
8.  Preemption. Except as provided in paragraph b of subdivision three
of this section, any local law, ordinance, rule or  regulation  relating
to  labeling, displaying or other disclosure of the price per measure of
any commodity must be consistent with the provisions of this section and
the rules and regulations adopted hereunder.