New York Laws
Article 26 - Miscellaneous
391-M - Manufacture and Sale of In-Line Skates; Regulation Of.

(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.

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