§ 5-61-2 - Definitions.
SECTION 5-61-2
§ 5-61-2 Definitions. – As used in this chapter:
(1) "Department" means the department of attorney general.
(2) "Item" means any goods and services and includes couponbooks, which are to be used with businesses other than the seller's business.
(3) "Owner" means a person who owns or controls ten percent(10%) or more of the equity of, or otherwise has claim to ten percent (10%) ormore of the net income of, a telephonic seller.
(4) "Person" includes an individual, firm, association,corporation, partnership, joint venture, or any other business entity.
(5) "Principal" means an owner, an executive officer of acorporation, a general partner of a partnership, a sole proprietor of a soleproprietorship, a trustee of a trust or any other individual with similarsupervisory functions with respect to any person.
(6) "Purchaser" or "prospective purchaser" means a person whois solicited to become or does become obligated to a telephonic seller.
(7) "Salesperson" means any individual employed, appointed orauthorized by a telephonic seller, whether referred to by the telephonic selleras an agent, representative, or independent contractor who attempts to solicitor solicits a sale on behalf of the telephonic seller. The principals of aseller are themselves salespersons if they solicit sales on behalf of thetelephonic seller.
(8) "Telephonic seller" or "seller" means a person who, onhis or her own behalf or through salespersons or through the use of anautomatic dialing-announcing device, causes a telephone solicitation orattempted telephone solicitation to occur which meets the criteria specified asfollows:
(i) A telephone solicitation or attempted telephonesolicitation where the telephonic seller initiates or engages in telephoniccontact with a prospective purchaser and represents or implies one or more ofthe following:
(A) That a prospective purchaser who buys one or more itemswill also receive additional or other items, whether or not of the same type aspurchased, without "further cost". For the purposes of this subdivision,"further cost" does not include actual postage or common carrier deliverycharges, if any;
(B) That a prospective purchaser will receive a prize orgift, if the person also encourages the prospective purchaser to purchase orrent any goods or services or pay any money, including, but not limited to, adelivery or handling charge;
(C) That a prospective purchaser who buys office equipment orsupplies will, because of some unusual event or imminent price increase, beable to buy these items at prices which are below those that are usuallycharged or will be charged for the items;
(D) That the seller is a person other than the person he orshe is;
(E) That the items for sale are manufactured or supplied by aperson other than the actual manufacturer or supplier;
(F) That the seller is offering to sell the prospectivepurchaser any gold, silver, or other minerals, or any interest in oil, gas, ormineral field, wells, or exploration sites.
(ii) Solicitation or attempted solicitation which is made bytelephone in response to inquiries generated by advertisements or other form ofmail or any types of unrequested mailing or advertisement sent by the sellerwhich requires a consumer to respond telephonically for further informationwhere it is revealed that the seller is offering to sell to the prospectivepurchaser on behalf of the telephonic seller where it is represented or impliedthat the seller is offering to sell to the prospective purchaser any gold,silver, or other metals, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, or other stones, coal orother minerals, or any interest in oil, gas, or mineral fields, wells, orexploration sites; or that the seller is offering to sell any goods or servicesnot specifically exempted in subdivision (10) of this section.
(9) "Hours of operation" means Monday through Friday, excepta state or federal holiday, nine o'clock (9:00 am) to six o'clock (6:00 pm),Saturday ten o'clock (10:00 am) to five o'clock (5:00 pm).
(10) For purposes of this section, "telephonic seller" or"seller" does not include any of the following:
(i) A person selling a security, which has been qualified forsale by the director of business regulation pursuant to § 7-11-301 etseq., or which is exempt under § 7-11-401 et seq. from the necessity toqualify.
(ii) A person licensed pursuant to § 5-20.5-6 when thesolicited transaction is governed by that law.
(iii) A person licensed pursuant to chapter 1.2 of title 7,when the solicited transaction is governed by that law.
(iv) A person soliciting the sale of a franchise, which isregistered pursuant to § 19-28.1-5, or is exempt under § 19-28.1-6from the necessity of registering.
(v) A person primarily soliciting the sale of a newspaper ofgeneral circulation, as defined in § 9-19.1-1, a magazine or periodical,or contractual plans, including book and record clubs: (A) under which theseller provides the consumer with a form which the consumer may use to instructthe seller not to ship the offered merchandise, and which is regulated by theFederal Trade Commission trade regulation rule concerning "Use of NegativeOption Plans by Sellers in Commerce;" or (B) not covered under subparagraph (A)of this paragraph, such as continuity plans, subscription arrangements,standing order arrangements, supplements, and series arrangements under whichthe seller periodically ships merchandise to a consumer who has consented inadvance to receive the merchandise on a periodic basis.
(vi) A person soliciting business from prospective purchaserswho have previously purchased from the person making the solicitation or thebusiness enterprise for which the person is calling.
(vii) Any supervised financial institution or parent,subsidiary, or affiliate. As used in this paragraph, "supervised financialinstitution" means any commercial bank, trust company, savings and loanassociation, credit union, industrial loan company, personal property broker,consumer finance lender, commercial finance lender, or insurer; provided, thatthe institution is subject to supervision by an official or agency of thisstate or of the United States.
(viii) A person soliciting the sale of services provided by acable television system licensed or franchised pursuant to chapter 19 of title39.
(ix) A person or affiliate of a person whose business isregulated by the public utilities commission.
(x) A person soliciting the sale of a farm product, asdefined in § 43-3-18, if the solicitation neither intends to, nor actuallyresults in, a sale which costs the purchaser in excess of one hundred dollars($100).
(xi) An issuer or subsidiary of an issuer that has a class ofsecurities which is subject to § 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78 l , and which is either registered or exempt fromregistration under paragraphs (A), (B), (C), (E), (F), (G), or (H) ofsubsection (g) of that section.
(xii) A person soliciting sales which are exempted under§ 6-13-5 (Unfair Sales Practices) or § 6-13.1-4 (Deceptive TradePractices).
(xiii) A person soliciting exclusively the sale of telephoneanswering services to be provided by that person or that person's employer.