Enacts the "wireless telephone right to know law" to require wireless telephone retailers to provide consumers with information on radiofrequency emittance risks and precautions.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5454--A
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 18, 2011
___________
Introduced by M. of A. P. RIVERA, JAFFEE, GIBSON, ROBERTS, ABINANTI,
McDONOUGH, CALHOUN, HOOPER, STEVENSON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of
A. BOYLAND, McLAUGHLIN -- read once and referred to the Committee on
Consumer Affairs and Protection -- recommitted to the Committee on
Consumer Affairs and Protection in accordance with Assembly Rule 3,
sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to wireless tele-
phone disclosure
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section
2 399-ccc to read as follows:
3 § 399-ccc. Wireless telephone disclosure. 1. Short title. This
4 section shall be known and may be cited as the "wireless telephone right
5 to know law".
6 2. Definitions. As used in this section, the following words and terms
7 shall have the following meanings unless the context indicates another
8 or different meaning or intent:
9 (a) "Department" means the department of state.
10 (b) "Display materials" means informational or promotional materials
11 posted adjacent to a sample wireless telephone or telephones on display
12 at the retail location that describe or list the features of the wire-
13 less telephone. Such term shall not include any tag, sticker or decal
14 attached to a wireless telephone by the manufacturer, the manufacturer's
15 packaging for a wireless telephone or materials that list only the price
16 and an identifier for the wireless telephone.
17 (c) "Secretary" means the secretary of state.
18 (d) "Wireless telephone" means a wireless communications device as
19 defined in subdivision nine of section three hundred one of the county
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00985-03-2
A. 5454--A 2
1 law. Such term shall not include a wireless telephone device that is
2 integrated into the electrical architecture of a motor vehicle.
3 (e) "Wireless telephone retailer" means any person or entity that
4 sells, leases, or offers for sale or lease, at retail, wireless tele-
5 phones. Such term shall not include any person selling or leasing wire-
6 less telephones:
7 (i) over the phone, by mail or over the internet; or
8 (ii) directly to the public at a convention, trade show or conference,
9 or otherwise selling or leasing wireless telephones directly to the
10 public within the state for fewer than ten days in a year.
11 (f) "Wireless telephone service provider" means a wireless communi-
12 cations service supplier as defined in subdivision twelve of section
13 three hundred one of the county law.
14 3. Requirements for wireless telephone service providers. Any wire-
15 less telephone service provider that sells its service through a wire-
16 less telephone retailer in this state shall provide a list of the retail
17 location or locations of each such retailer to the department, in a form
18 determined by the secretary. The wireless service provider shall update
19 such list of retailers annually. The department shall adopt regulations
20 governing the form and submission of such lists.
21 4. Requirements for wireless telephone retailers. (a) Beginning
22 fifteen days after the department adopts the regulations required pursu-
23 ant to subdivision five of this section, wireless telephone retailers
24 shall display in a prominent location visible to the public, within its
25 retail store, an informational poster developed by the department pursu-
26 ant to subdivision five of this section.
27 (b) Beginning fifteen days after the department adopts the regulations
28 required pursuant to subdivision five of this section, wireless tele-
29 phone retailers shall provide, to every customer that purchases a wire-
30 less telephone, a free copy of an informational factsheet developed by
31 the department pursuant to subdivision five of this section. A copy of
32 this factsheet must also be provided to any customer who requests it,
33 regardless of whether he or she purchases a wireless telephone.
34 (c) Beginning thirty days after the department adopts the regulations
35 required pursuant to subdivision five of this section, if a wireless
36 telephone retailer posts display materials in connection with sample
37 wireless telephones on display, the display materials must include the
38 following three informational statements the contents, size and format
39 of which, as printed, shall be determined by the department:
40 (i) A statement explaining that wireless telephones emit radiofrequen-
41 cy energy that is absorbed by the head and body;
42 (ii) A statement referencing measures to reduce exposure to radiofre-
43 quency energy from the use of a wireless telephone; and
44 (iii) A statement that the informational factsheet referenced in para-
45 graph (b) of this subdivision is available from the wireless telephone
46 retailer upon request.
47 (d) The secretary may, in his or her discretion, authorize a wireless
48 telephone retailer to use alternate means to comply with the require-
49 ments of this section. The secretary shall authorize such alternate
50 means through the adoption of a regulation, and no wireless telephone
51 retailer may sell or lease wireless telephones to the public, or offer
52 to sell or lease wireless telephones to the public using any alternate
53 means of compliance with this section unless specifically authorized to
54 do so in advance in writing by the secretary.
A. 5454--A 3
1 5. Rules and regulations. (a) The department shall, in consultation
2 with the department of health, develop and make available to wireless
3 telephone retailers:
4 (i) informational posters, as referenced in paragraph (a) of subdivi-
5 sion four of this section;
6 (ii) informational factsheets, as referenced in paragraph (b) of
7 subdivision four of this section; and
8 (iii) sets of statements that must be included in display materials,
9 as referenced in paragraph (c) of subdivision four of this section.
10 (b) The material developed pursuant to this subdivision shall inform
11 consumers of issues pertaining to rediofrequency energy emissions from
12 wireless telephones and actions that can be taken by wireless telephone
13 users to minimize exposure to rediofrequency energy, such as turning off
14 wireless telephones when not in use, using a headset and speaker phone,
15 or using the wireless telephone to send text messages.
16 (c) The department may by regulation require the inclusion of addi-
17 tional information in the poster, the factsheet and/or the statements
18 required in connection with display materials.
19 (d) (i) The department shall issue regulations, to take effect fifteen
20 days after the effective date of this section specifying the contents,
21 size and format for the poster, the factsheet and the statements
22 required in connection with display materials developed pursuant to
23 paragraph (a) of this subdivision and provide templates of them for use
24 by wireless telephone retailers.
25 (ii) (A) The informational poster shall be a maximum size of eleven
26 inches by seventeen inches;
27 (B) The informational factsheet shall be a maximum size of five and
28 one-half inches by eleven inches (half-sheet of paper); and
29 (C) The informational statements shall be printed in a space no small-
30 er than one inch by two and five-eighths inches.
31 (e) In the event that the scientific community or the Federal Communi-
32 cations Commission develops a new metric to measure the actual amount of
33 radiofrequency an average user will absorb from each model of wireless
34 telephone, the department shall make recommendations to the legislature
35 for amendments to this section to require notification to the public of
36 this metric at the point of sale.
37 6. Penalties. (a) Any wireless telephone service provider or wireless
38 telephone retailer that violates this section shall be subject to a
39 civil penalty of not more than one hundred dollars for the first
40 violation, not more than two hundred fifty dollars for the second
41 violation, and not more than five hundred dollars for each violation
42 thereafter.
43 (b) The provisions of subdivision four of this section may be enforced
44 concurrently by the director of a municipal consumer affairs office, the
45 town attorney, county attorney, the corporation counsel or other lawful
46 designee of a municipality or local government, and all moneys collected
47 pursuant to this paragraph shall be retained by such municipality or
48 local government.
49 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
50 it shall have become a law; provided, however, that effective immediate-
51 ly, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation
52 necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date is
53 authorized and directed to be made and completed on or before such
54 effective date.
