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New Deceptive Practices Act Signed Into Law Also Covers Small Businesses
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed S8416 into law the “Fostering Affordability and Integrity Through Reasonable (FAIR) Business Practices Act.”
The new law takes effect sixty days after signing.
The new law, which was introduced by New York Attorney General Letitia James, greatly expands New York’s consumer protection law, prohibiting “unfair” and “abusive” acts or practices to residential as well as small businesses and non-for profits.
In press release New York Attorney General James said, “[t]he Fair Business Practices Act will help us tackle rising costs and protect working families and small businesses. I am proud to have worked alongside Senator Comrie and Assembly member Lasher to update our most important consumer protection law for the first time in 45 years.”
“It is time for New York to join all but a handful of New York’s fellow jurisdictions by adopting a comprehensive unfair, deceptive, and abusive business acts and practices statute that gives government and private parties the tools to address these harms. The state must achieve the goal of deterring and remedying a broad range of unfair, deceptive, and abusive business practices, and leveling the playing field for the state’s many honest businesses and non-profits that treat their customers fairly. It must also anticipate future unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts, including from new and emerging technologies. To that end, this article defines unfair and abusive acts and practices expansively to reach conduct that is unfair or abusive but arguably not deceptive.”
The New York Attorney General said that, among other things, S8416 would combat companies that, “take advantage of consumers with limited English proficiency and,” and companies that, “obscure pricing information and fees”.
Under the new law, an “unfair” act or practice “causes or is likely to cause substantial injury which is not reasonably avoidable and is not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or to competition.”
More specifically an act or practice is “abusive” under the new law when it either “materially interferes with the ability of a person to understand a term or condition of a product or service” or takes “unreasonable advantage” of (a) a lack of understanding on the part of a person of the material risks, costs, or conditions of a product or service, (b) the inability of a person to protect such person’s interests in selecting or using a product or service, or (c) the reasonable reliance by a person on a person engaging in the act or practice to act in the relying person’s interests.”
To read the bill please Download Bill Text Pdf
