Florida Statutes Part I - General Provisions (Ss. 501.001-501.171)

• 501.001 - Florida Anti-tampering Act.
  (1) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:(a) “Consumer product” includes:1. “Food,” which means:a. Any article used for food or drink for humans or other animals;b. Chewing gum; orc. Any article intended for...
• 501.005 - Consumer Report Security Freeze.
  (1) For purposes of this section, a “security freeze” means a notice placed in a consumer report that prohibits a consumer reporting agency, as defined in...
• 501.0051 - Protected Consumer Report Security Freeze.
  (1) As used in this section, the term:(a) “Consumer report” has the same meaning as provided in 15 U.S.C. s. 1681a(d).(b) “Consumer reporting agency” has the same meaning...
• 501.011 - Credit Cards; Unsolicited Delivery Or Mailing Prohibited.
  (1) As used in this section the term “credit card” means any credit card or other document or device intended or adopted for the purpose of...
• 501.0113 - Unsolicited Goods; No Obligation On Part Of Recipient.
  When unsolicited goods are delivered to a person, the person may refuse delivery of the goods, or, if the goods are delivered, the person is...
• 501.0115 - Service Station Credit Cards And Franchise Agreements; Certain Restrictions On Sales And Purchasers Prohibited.
  It shall be unlawful and shall be deemed a deceptive trade practice for any producer or refiner or a subsidiary of any producer or refiner...
• 501.0117 - Credit Cards; Transactions In Which Seller Or Lessor Prohibited From Imposing Surcharge; Penalty.
  (1) A seller or lessor in a sales or lease transaction may not impose a surcharge on the buyer or lessee for electing to use a...
• 501.0118 - Restrictions On Information Printed On Receipts For Payment-card Transactions; Penalties.
  (1) As used in this section, the term:(a) “Cardholder” means the person or organization named on the face of a payment card to whom or for whose...
• 501.012 - Health Studios; Legislative Findings.
  The Legislature finds and declares that there exist in connection with a substantial number of contracts for health studio services certain practices and business and...
• 501.0125 - Health Studios; Definitions.
  For purposes of ss. 501.012-501.019, the following terms shall have the following meanings:(1) “Health studio” means any person who is engaged in the sale of services...
• 501.013 - Health Studios; Exemptions.
  The following businesses or activities may be declared exempt from the provisions of ss. 501.012-501.019 upon the filing of an affidavit with the department establishing...
• 501.014 - Health Studios; Powers And Duties Of The Department.
  (1) The department may, at any time during business hours, enter any business location of a health studio required to be registered pursuant to ss. 501.012-501.019,...
• 501.015 - Health Studios; Registration Requirements And Fees.
  Each health studio shall:(1) Register each of its business locations with the department in a form and manner as required by the department.(2) Remit an annual registration...
• 501.016 - Health Studios; Security Requirements.
  Each health studio that sells contracts for health studio services shall meet the following requirements:(1) Each health studio shall maintain for each separate business location a...
• 501.017 - Health Studios; Contracts.
  (1) Each contract for the sale of future health studio services which is paid for in advance or which the buyer agrees to pay for in...
• 501.018 - Health Studios; Change Of Ownership Or Location.
  (1) Whenever the ownership of a health studio is changed or, in the case of corporate ownership, whenever the stock ownership is changed so as to...
• 501.019 - Health Studios; Penalties.
  (1) Any health studio or any owner or manager thereof, or, in the case of corporate ownership, any substantial stockholder of the corporation owning the health...
• 501.021 - Home Solicitation Sale; Definitions.
  As used in ss. 501.021-501.055:(1) “Home solicitation sale” means a sale, lease, or rental of consumer goods or services with a purchase price in excess of...
• 501.022 - Home Solicitation Sale; Permit Required.
  (1)(a) It is unlawful for any person to conduct any home solicitation sale, as defined in s. 501.021, or to supervise excluded minors conducting such sales...
• 501.025 - Home Solicitation Sale; Buyer’s Right To Cancel.
  In addition to any other right to revoke an offer, the buyer has the right to cancel a home solicitation sale until midnight of the...
• 501.031 - Home Solicitation Sale; Written Agreement.
  Every home solicitation sale shall be evidenced by a writing as provided in this section.(1) In a home solicitation sale, the seller must present to and...
• 501.035 - Home Solicitation Sale; Exclusions.
  There shall be excluded from the operation of ss. 501.021-501.055:(1) The sale of insurance; and(2) The sale of farm equipment or machinery.History.—s. 5, ch. 70-363.
• 501.041 - Home Solicitation Sale; Restoration Of Down Payment.
  Within 10 days after a home solicitation sale has been canceled or an offer to purchase revoked, the seller must tender to the buyer any...
• 501.045 - Home Solicitation Sale; Duty Of Buyer.
  Except as provided in s. 501.041, within a reasonable time after a home solicitation sale has been canceled or an offer to purchase revoked, the...
• 501.046 - Home Solicitation Sale; Duty Of Businesses Conducting Home Solicitation Sales.
  (1) All businesses conducting home solicitation sales in this state shall:(a) Ensure that all employees engaged in home solicitation sales obtain the permit required in s. 501.022...
• 501.047 - Home Solicitation Sale; Prohibited Practices.
  In conducting a home solicitation, no person shall:(1) Misrepresent the terms or conditions of the sale, lease, or rental.(2) Misrepresent the seller’s affiliation with the parent company...
• 501.052 - Home Solicitation Sale; Enforcement Authority; Injunctive Relief.
  The Attorney General or state attorney may institute proceedings to enjoin any person found to be violating the provisions of ss. 501.021-501.055.History.—s. 2, ch. 77-350;...
• 501.053 - Home Solicitation Sale; Judicial Review.
  Any person, firm, corporation, or agency aggrieved by any decision of a clerk of the circuit court under authority granted in ss. 501.021-501.055 may appeal...
• 501.055 - Home Solicitation Sale; Penalties.
  (1) Violation of any of the provisions of ss. 501.025-501.047 is a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.(2) Any...
• 501.057 - Commercial Weight-loss Practices Act; Short Title.
  Sections 501.057-501.0581 may be cited as the “Florida Commercial Weight-Loss Practices Act.”History.—s. 1, ch. 93-274.
• 501.0571 - Commercial Weight-loss Practices Act; Definitions.
  As used in ss. 501.057-501.0581:(1) “Examination” means any type of medical, psychological, or nutritional review of a consumer.(2) “Supplement” means any type of vitamin, mineral, or other...
• 501.0573 - Weight-loss Provider Requirements.
  Each weight-loss provider shall:(1) Provide to a consumer a written itemized statement of the fixed or estimated cost of the weight-loss program that is being recommended,...
• 501.0575 - Weight-loss Consumer Bill Of Rights.
  (1) The Weight-Loss Consumer Bill of Rights shall consist of the following provisions:(A) WARNING: RAPID WEIGHT LOSS MAY CAUSE SERIOUS HEALTH PROBLEMS. RAPID WEIGHT LOSS IS WEIGHT...
• 501.0577 - Commercial Weight-loss Practices Act; Exemptions.
  The provisions of this act do not apply to persons licensed under chapter 458, chapter 459, chapter 460, chapter 461, chapter 462, chapter 463, chapter...
• 501.0579 - Commercial Weight-loss Practices Act; Unlawful Practices.
  It is unlawful and an unfair and deceptive trade practice under part II of this chapter to fail to comply with the provisions of this...
• 501.0581 - Commercial Weight-loss Practices Act; Civil Remedies.
  (1) The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services may bring a civil action in circuit court for temporary or permanent injunctive relief to enforce the provisions...
• 501.0583 - Selling, Delivering, Bartering, Furnishing, Or Giving Weight-loss Pills To Persons Under Age 18; Penalties; Defense.
  (1) As used in this section, the term “weight-loss pill” means a pill that is available without a prescription, the marketing, advertising, or packaging of which...
• 501.059 - Telephone Solicitation.
  (1) As used in this section, the term:(a) “Consumer” means an actual or prospective purchaser, lessee, or recipient of consumer goods or services.(b) “Consumer goods or services” means...
• 501.122 - Control Of Nonionizing Radiations; Laser; Penalties.
  (1) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section:(a) “Laser” means light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, encompassing wavelengths above and below those in visual range, if produced...
• 501.135 - Consumer Unit Pricing.
  (1) SHORT TITLE.—This act shall be known and cited as “The Consumer Unit Pricing Act.”(2) PURPOSES; RULE OF INTERPRETATION.—This act shall be liberally construed to effectively promote...
• 501.137 - Mortgage Lenders; Tax And Insurance Payments From Escrow Accounts; Duties.
  (1) Every lender of money, whether a natural person or an artificial entity, whose loans are secured by a mortgage on real estate located within the...
• 501.1375 - Deposits Received For Purchase Of Residential Dwelling Units; Placement In Escrow; Waiver; Exceptions.
  (1) DEFINITIONS.—(a) “Building contractor” means any person who, for compensation, constructs and sells one-family or two-family residential dwelling units, except for a person who sells or constructs...
• 501.1377 - Violations Involving Homeowners During The Course Of Residential Foreclosure Proceedings.
  (1) LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT.—The Legislature finds that homeowners who are in default on their mortgages, in foreclosure, or at risk of losing their homes due...
• 501.138 - Advertising Of Previews Or Trailers; Standards.
  (1) Any motion picture theater owner or operator who desires to exhibit, on the same program, a motion picture which has received a “G” rating and...
• 501.141 - Delivery Of Crated Goods; Written Statement Of Satisfaction; Right To Cancel.
  (1) As used in this section, “statement of satisfaction” means any receipt, statement, or document by which any retail noncommercial buyer of goods, which goods are...
• 501.142 - Retail Sales Establishments; Preemption; Notice Of Refund Policy; Exceptions; Penalty.
  (1) The regulation of refunds is preempted to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services notwithstanding any other law or local ordinance to the contrary. Every...
• 501.145 - Bedding Label Act.
  (1) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the Bedding Label Act.(2) DEFINITIONS.—For the purpose of this section, the term:(a) “Bedding” means any mattress, box spring, pillow, or...
• 501.155 - Electronic Dissemination Of Commercial Recordings Or Audiovisual Works; Required Disclosures; Injunctive Relief.
  (1) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the “True Origin of Digital Goods Act.”(2) APPLICABILITY.—This section is supplemental to those provisions of state and federal criminal...
• 501.160 - Rental Or Sale Of Essential Commodities During A Declared State Of Emergency; Prohibition Against Unconscionable Prices.
  (1) As used in this section:(a) “Commodity” means any goods, services, materials, merchandise, supplies, equipment, resources, or other article of commerce, and includes, without limitation, food, water,...
• 501.164 - Civil Penalties.
  In addition to all other remedies provided by the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, the court may impose a civil penalty of not...
• 501.165 - Automatic Renewal Of Service Contracts.
  (1) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:(a) “Automatic renewal provision” means a provision under which a service contract is renewed for a specified period of more than 1...
• 501.171 - Security Of Confidential Personal Information.
  (1) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:(a) “Breach of security” or “breach” means unauthorized access of data in electronic form containing personal information. Good faith access...

Last modified: September 23, 2016