N.Y. General Business Law § 392-f: Taximeters

§ 392-f Taximeters. 1. Definitions. As used in this section:

(a) "Person" shall include a person, firm, partnership, association or

corporation.

(b) "Sell" shall include offer to sell, expose for sale, and possess

with intent to dispose of or to sell.

(c) "Taximeter" shall include any device which, when affixed to a

motor vehicle, is so constructed as to operate as a fare indicator and a

time and distance register for the purpose of automatically determining

the charge for which a passenger becomes liable.

(d) "Remove" shall include deface, alter, conceal and obliterate.

2. (a) No manufacturer shall offer for sale any taximeter which does

not have etched, stamped or permanently impressed thereon a serial

number which has been assigned to it by the manufacturer.

(b) Any manufacturer who sells taximeters within the state shall keep

a record of the transaction. The record shall indicate (i) the serial

number of the taximeter sold, (ii) the name and address of the vendee,

(iii) the date of the sale and (iv) the purchase price.

3. A person being the owner or lawful custodian of a taximeter, the

original identification number of which shall have been removed or which

never bore a serial number, may apply to the county or municipal

authority charged with the obligation of regulating the taxicab industry

within its jurisdiction, if any, for permission to make or stamp, or

cause to be made or stamped on such taximeter a serial number. If

satisfied that the person making application for such permission is the

true owner of the taximeter and that its original number was not so

removed at the instigation of the person making such application, or, if

done by such person, was not done for an unlawful purpose, the county or

municipal authority shall issue to the applicant written permission to

stamp on the taximeter a special identification number designated by it.

4. Any person who wholly or in part removes or who shall cause to be,

wholly or in part, removed from or upon a taximeter the serial number;

or who sells or causes to be sold a taximeter from or upon which to his

or its knowledge, or to the knowledge of his or its agents, servants or

employees there has been in whole or in part, removed or concealed the

serial number, or who sells or causes to be sold a taximeter from the

inspection of which such knowledge could have been obtained, shall be

guilty of a misdemeanor.

5. The sale of a taximeter from which there has been in whole or in

part removed or concealed a mark of origin shall be presumptive evidence

of the violation of this section.