N.Y. General Business Law § 391-m: Manufacture and sale of in-line skates; regulation of

§ 391-m. Manufacture and sale of in-line skates; regulation of. 1. As

used in this section, the term:

(a) "Protective gear" shall mean the following: a helmet meeting the

standards established by the commissioner of motor vehicles pursuant to

subdivision two-a of section twelve hundred thirty-eight of the vehicle

and traffic law; and wrist guards, elbow pads, and knee pads of such

standards, designs, sizes, strengths, and thicknesses as will reduce the

risk to the wearer of serious physical injury caused by impact to the

body part on which such protective gear is designed to be worn, such as,

but not limited to, from falls and collisions.

(b) "In-line skate" shall mean a manufactured or assembled device each

consisting of an upper portion that is intended to be secured to a human

foot, with a frame or chassis attached along the length of the bottom of

such upper portion, with such frame or chassis holding two or more

wheels that are longitudinally aligned and used to skate or glide, by

means of human foot and leg power while having such device attached to

each such foot or leg.

(c) "Brake" shall mean a part which is secured to an in-line skate, as

defined in paragraph (b) of this subdivision, and intended to enable the

user to control his or her speed and/or come to a stop.

(d) "Warning instruction" shall mean a label, hangtag, shield or plate

which is clearly visible to the consumer, with substantially the

following notice printed in clear and conspicuous type: "WARNING !

REDUCE THE RISK OF SERIOUS INJURY AND ONLY USE THESE SKATES WHILE

WEARING FULL PROTECTIVE GEAR - HELMET, WRIST GUARDS, ELBOW PADS, AND

KNEE PADS."

2. (a) No person, firm, corporation, or other legal entity which

manufactures or assembles in-line skates shall manufacture, assemble,

sell, offer to sell, or distribute in this state such in-line skates

unless: (i) at least one such in-line skate in each pair manufactured or

assembled is manufactured or assembled with a brake, as defined in this

section; and (ii) at least one such in-line skate in each pair

manufactured or assembled contains a warning instruction, as defined in

this section, either on at least one such in-line skate in each pair or

on the outside of the box in which such pair of in-line skates is sold

or offered for sale at retail; and (iii) each such pair of in-line

skates which contains a user's guide or buyer's instruction manual also

contains a warning instruction, as defined in this section, within or on

such guide or manual; and, (iv) every in-line skate is equipped with a

reflective device or material meeting the standards established by rules

and regulations promulgated by the commissioner of motor vehicles. Each

pair of in-line skates which is manufactured or assembled by a person,

firm, corporation, or other legal entity for special use by highly

skilled or expert skaters or for sale or distribution through custom

orders, such as in-line hockey skates and in-line speed skates, is

exempt from the requirements of items (i) and (iv) of this paragraph,

provided that such person, firm, corporation or other legal entity which

manufactures or assembles such pair of in-line skates clearly and

conspicuously labels at least one in-line skate in each such pair of

in-line skates or the outside of the box in which such pair of in-line

skates is sold or offered for sale at retail with the following warning

in substantially the following form: "WARNING: THESE IN-LINE SKATES

CONTAIN NO BRAKES OR REFLECTIVE MATERIAL AND ARE INTENDED FOR HIGHLY

SKILLED OR EXPERT SKATERS ONLY".

(b) No person, firm, corporation or other legal entity which is

regularly engaged in the business of selling, offering for sale, or

distributing in-line skates at retail for consumer use, shall sell,

offer to sell, or distribute in this state such in-line skates unless

such in-line skates conform to the manufacturing requirements set forth

in paragraph (a) of this subdivision.

(c) No person, firm, corporation, or other legal entity which is

regularly engaged in the business of selling, offering for sale, or

distributing in-line skates at retail, for consumer use, shall offer

such in-line skates for sale in the normal course of business in this

state unless such person, firm, corporation, or other legal entity

contemporaneously offers for sale upon the same premises protective

gear, as defined in this section.

(d) Whenever there shall be a violation of this section, an

application may be made by the attorney general in the name of the

people of the state of New York to a court or justice having

jurisdiction by a special proceeding to issue an injunction, and upon

notice to the defendant of not less than five days, to enjoin and

restrain the continuance of such violation; and if it shall appear to

the satisfaction of the court or justice that the defendant has, in

fact, violated this article, an injunction may be issued by such court

or justice, enjoining and restraining any further violation, without

requiring proof that any person has, in fact, been injured or damaged

thereby. In any such proceeding, the court may make allowances to the

attorney general as provided in paragraph six of subdivision (a) of

section eighty-three hundred three of the civil practice law and rules,

and direct restitution. Whenever the court shall determine that a

violation of this article has occurred, the court may impose a civil

penalty of not more than five hundred dollars for such violation. In

connection with any such proposed application, the attorney general is

authorized to take proof and make a determination of the relevant facts

and to issue subpoenas in accordance with the civil practice law and

rules.

(e) No person, firm, corporation or other legal entity which is

regularly engaged in the business of manufacturing, distributing,

selling, or offering for sale in-line skates shall be deemed to have

violated the provisions of this subdivision, if such person, firm,

corporation or other legal entity shows by a preponderance of evidence

that the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide

error made notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably

adopted to avoid any such error.

(f) This subdivision shall not apply to the sale of in-line skates or

protective gear sold or offered for sale by consumers for consumer use.