It shall be a violation of this section for any person:
(1) to act, use or employ any deception, fraud, false pretense, false promise or misrepresentation, or to conceal, suppress or omit any material fact with intent that others rely upon such concealment, suppression or omission, in connection with the sale, for cash or on credit, or advertisement of any merchandise, whether or not any person has in fact been misled; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall apply to the owner or publisher of newspapers, magazines, publications or printed matter wherein such advertisement appears, or to the owner or operator of a radio or television station which disseminates such advertisement when the owner, publisher or operator has no knowledge of the intent, design or purpose of the advertiser; and provided, further, that nothing herein contained shall apply to any advertisement which is subject to and complies with the rules and regulations of, and the statutes administered by, the Federal Trade Commission;
(2) to represent that merchandise is new, if it is deteriorated, altered, reconditioned, reclaimed, used or secondhand;
(3) to represent that merchandise or services are of a particular standard, grade or quality, or to represent that merchandise is of a particular style or model, if it is not;
(4) to fail to deliver ordered merchandise within a period of 60 days from the date of order or contract, unless otherwise provided therein, unless the customer is notified in writing of the reason for the delay and such merchandise is delivered in less than a total of 90 days, or a refund is offered within 90 days of the date of the order or contract;
(5) to make false or misleading statements of fact concerning the reasons for, existence of, or amounts of price reductions, or engaging in any other pricing conduct causing confusion or misunderstanding;
(6) to represent that merchandise or services are those of another, when in fact they are not;
(7) to cause confusion or misunderstanding concerning the source, sponsorship, approval or certification of merchandise or services;
(8) to cause confusion or misunderstanding or false or deceptive representation concerning affiliation, connection or association with, or certification by, another;
(9) to represent that merchandise or services have sponsorship approval concerning the source of or certification of merchandise or services when in fact they do not have such approval or sponsorship;
(10) to fail to state a material fact, if such failure tends to deceive or mislead;
(11) to advertise for sale at a stated price any items when sufficient quantities of said advertised items are not readily available to be sold to purchasers at the advertised price during the effective period of the advertisement for sale. For the purposes of this subsection, "readily available" shall mean available to the customer in an area of the store normally used to display this type of merchandise, except in a case where the space available for the items is limited, a sample of the items may be placed in a prominent location, accompanied by a prominent, written notice clearly stating that the items are in stock and may be obtained upon request and "sufficient quantities" shall mean available in quantities sufficient to meet reasonably expected customer demand through medium response;
(12) to charge a higher amount of tax than the legal rate set forth by laws and regulations existing at the time of sale;
(13) to sell or offer for sale outdated:
(a) perishable food and over-the-counter medications; or
(b) shelf-stable products, unless such shelf-stable products are both physically separated from merchandise that is not outdated and clearly designated as outdated;
(14) to sell or offer for sale, or keeping with intention of selling, infant formula that is outdated. Outdated formula shall be considered unsafe and unwholesome for human food; or
(15) to sell merchandise that has been recalled for any reason by the United States Food and Drug Administration, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, or any other governmental or regulatory body.
(Added Coun. J. 12-9-92, p. 25465; Amend Coun. J. 3-9-11, p. 113698, § 1; Amend Coun. J. 11-14-18, p. 90308, Art. V, § 5)