New Jersey-2020-A1460-Introduced

An Act concerning printing costs and supplementing P.L.1960, c.39 (C.56:8-1 et seq.).

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):

"Printer" means an output device that produces a paper copy of alphanumeric or graphic data.

"Ink cartridge" means a replaceable module containing ink that is designed to be inserted into a printer.

2. a. It shall be an unlawful practice for any person to sell, or offer to sell, any printer unless:

(1) Its packaging includes, or has an attached tag or label that conspicuously displays, the average cost per 1,000 printed pages for black text printing; and

(2) If the printer is capable of printing photographs or in color, its packaging, or a conspicuously displayed and attached tag or label, includes the average cost per 1,000 printed pages for color printing.

b. For the purposes of this section, the average cost per page for black text printing shall be calculated by dividing the manufacturer's suggested retail price by the cartridge yield for all of the printer's ink cartridges. The average cost per page shall be the sum of the quotients for all of the printer's ink cartridges. Yield shall be determined using the ISO/IEC 24711:2007 and ISO/IEC 19752:2004 standards for black text printing.

c. For the purposes of this section, the average cost per page for color printing shall be calculated by dividing the manufacturer's suggested retail price by the cartridge yield for all of the printer's ink cartridges. The average cost per page shall be the sum of the quotients for all of the printer's ink cartridges. Yield shall be determined using the ISO/IEC 24711:2007 and ISO/IEC 24712:2007 standards for color printing.

3. a. It shall be an unlawful practice for any person to sell, or offer to sell, any ink cartridge unless its packaging includes, or has an attached tag or label that conspicuously displays, the ink cartridge's yield.

b. For the purposes of this section, the yield for black ink cartridges shall be determined using the ISO/IEC 24711:2007 and ISO/IEC 19752:2004 standards for black text printing.

c. For the purposes of this section, the yield for color ink cartridges shall be determined using the ISO/IEC 24711:2007 and ISO/IEC 24712:2007 standards for color printing.

4. The Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs shall, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), adopt rules and regulations necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act.

5. This act shall take effect on the first day of the 13^th month next following enactment.

STATEMENT

This bill makes it an unlawful practice to sell a printer without information indicating the average cost per 1,000 printed pages for black text and, if applicable, color printing. It is also an unlawful practice, under the bill, to sell an ink cartridge without information indicating the ink cartridge's yield. This information would have to be included on the printer's or ink cartridge's packaging, or on a conspicuously attached label or tag.

The bill specifies that the average cost per page is to be calculated by dividing the manufacturer's suggested retail price for the printer's cartridges by their yield. Yield is to be determined using standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization.

A violation of this bill is an unlawful practice under the consumer fraud act which is punishable by a monetary penalty of not more than $10,000 for a first offense and not more than $20,000 for any subsequent offense. Additionally, a violation can result in cease and desist orders issued by the Attorney General, the assessment of punitive damages, and the awarding of treble damages and costs to the injured party.