Rhode Island § 6-30-6 - Distribution of Credit Cards

§ 6-30-6. Credit card transactions — Printing of accounting numbers on receipts.

(a) As used in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) “Cardholder” means the person named on the face of a credit card to whom or for whose benefit the credit card is issued by an issuer and shall include any employee or other agent or authorized user of the card;

(2) “Credit card” shall be defined as stated in § 6-30-2;

(3) “Issuer” means the financial institution or other business organization that issues a credit card or its duly authorized agent;

(4) “Person” means an individual or corporation, partnership, trust, association, joint-venture pool, syndicate, sole proprietorship, unincorporated organization, or any other legal entity; and

(5) “Provider” means a person who furnishes money, goods, services, or anything else of value upon presentation, whether physically, in writing, verbally, electronically, or otherwise of a credit card by the cardholder, or any agent or employee of such person.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no provider shall print or otherwise produce or reproduce or permit the printing or other production or reproduction of either of the following:

(1) Any part of the credit card account number, other than the last five (5) digits or other characters on any receipt provided or made available to the cardholder; or

(2) The credit card expiration date on any receipt provided or made available to the cardholder.

(c) This section shall not apply to a credit card transaction in which the sole means available to the provider of recording the credit card account number is by handwriting or by imprint of the card.

(d) This section shall not apply to receipts issued for transactions on the electronic benefits transfer card system.

(e) Any cardholder whose credit card has been the subject of a violation of this section, or the issuer of such a card, may bring a civil action in the superior court against the provider who violated the provisions of this section to recover or obtain one or all of the following remedies:

(1) Damages or expenses, or both, that the cardholder or issuer incurred due to the provider’s violation of this section;

(2) Court costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees;

(3) Injunctive or equitable relief, as appropriate; and

(4) Any other relief the court deems proper.

(f) The provisions of this section shall become effective on January 1, 2007, with respect to any cash register or other machine or device that electronically prints receipts for credit card transactions that is in use prior to January 1, 2005.

(g) The provisions of this section shall become effective on January 1, 2005, with respect to any cash register or other machine or device that electronically prints receipts for credit card transactions that is first put into use on or after January 1, 2005.