Opinion ID: 2959935
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Connecticut Giftcard Law

Text: The Connecticut Gift Card Law prohibits the sale of any “gift certificate” subject to inactivity or dormancy fees or to an expiration date. See 2003 Conn. Pub. Acts 03-1 §§ 83, 84 (June 30, 2003 Spec. Sess.) (codified at CONN . GEN . STAT . §§ 3-65c, 42-460 (2007)). Gift certificates are defined to include gift cards and other stored-value cards. CONN . GEN . STAT . § 3- 56a(5). Under the general heading “Escheats,” the Gift Card Law provides that “a holder of . . . a gift certificate . . . may not impose on the property a dormancy charge or fee, abandoned property charge or fee, unclaimed property charge or fee, escheat charge or fee, inactivity charge or fee, or any similar charge, fee or penalty for inactivity with respect to the property.” Id. § 3-65c. Elsewhere, the Law provides that “[n]o person may sell or issue a gift certificate . . . that is subject to an expiration date.” Id. § 42-460(a). The Attorney General maintains that the Gift Card Law applies only to the sale of gift cards in Connecticut, not their use, and thus permits cards purchased out of state to be used in Connecticut despite any restrictions or fees such cards may carry. The intent of the Law, he suggests, is to protect Connecticut consumers from being deprived unwittingly of the value of 4 gift cards they have purchased in the State.