                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS (§ 59.1-296)

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:
		&#8220;Automated external defibrillator&#8221; means a device that combines a
heart monitor and defibrillator and (i) has been approved by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration; (ii) is capable of recognizing the presence or absence of
ventricular fibrillation or rapid ventricular tachycardia; (iii) is capable of
determining, without intervention by an operator, whether defibrillation should
be performed; and (iv) automatically charges and requests delivery of an
electrical impulse to an individual&#8217;s heart upon determining that
defibrillation should be performed.
		&#8220;Business day&#8221; means any day except a Sunday or a legal holiday.
		&#8220;Buyer&#8221; means a natural person who enters into a health club
contract.
		&#8220;Commissioner&#8221; means the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer
Services, or a member of his staff to whom he may delegate his duties under this
chapter.
		&#8220;Comparable alternate facility&#8221; means a health club facility that
is reasonably of like kind, in nature and quality, to the health club facility
originally contracted, whether such facility is in the same location but owned
or operated by a different health club or is at another location of the same
health club.
		&#8220;Contract price&#8221; means the sum of the initiation fee, if any, and
all monthly fees except interest required by the health club contract.
		&#8220;Facility&#8221; means a location where health club services are offered
as designated in a health club contract.
		&#8220;Health club&#8221; means any person, firm, corporation, organization,
club or association whose primary purpose is to engage in the sale of
memberships in a program consisting primarily of physical exercise with exercise
machines or devices, or whose primary purpose is to engage in the sale of the
right or privilege to use exercise machines or devices. The term &#8220;health
club&#8221; shall not include the following: (i) bona fide nonprofit
organizations, including, but not limited to, the Young Men&#8217;s Christian
Association, Young Women&#8217;s Christian Association, or similar organizations
whose functions as health clubs are only incidental to their overall functions
and purposes; (ii) any private club owned and operated by its members; (iii) any
organization primarily operated for the purpose of teaching a particular form of
self-defense such as judo or karate; (iv) any facility owned or operated by the
United States; (v) any facility owned or operated by the Commonwealth of
Virginia or any of its political subdivisions; (vi) any nonprofit public or
private school or institution of higher education; (vii) any club providing
tennis or swimming facilities located in a residential planned community or
subdivision, developed in conjunction with the development of such community or
subdivision, and deriving at least 80 percent of its membership from residents
of such community or subdivision; and (viii) any facility owned and operated by
a private employer exclusively for the benefit of its employees, retirees, and
family members and which facility is only incidental to the overall functions
and purposes of the employer&#8217;s business and is operated on a nonprofit
basis.
		&#8220;Health club contract&#8221; means an agreement whereby the buyer of
health club services purchases, or becomes obligated to purchase, health club
services.
		&#8220;Health club services&#8221; means and includes services, privileges, or
rights offered for sale or provided by a health club.
		&#8220;Initiation fee&#8221; means a nonrecurring fee charged at or near the
beginning of a health club membership, and includes all fees or charges not part
of the monthly fee.
		&#8220;Monthly fee&#8221; means the total consideration, including but not
limited to, equipment or locker rental, credit check, finance, medical and
dietary evaluation, class and training fees, and all other similar fees or
charges and interest, but excluding any initiation fee, to be paid by a buyer,
divided by the total number of months of health club service use allowed by the
buyer&#8217;s contract, including months or time periods called
&#8220;free&#8221; or &#8220;bonus&#8221; months or time periods and such months
or time periods that are described in any other terms suggesting that they are
provided free of charge, which months or time periods are given or contemplated
when the contract is initially executed.
		&#8220;Out of business&#8221; means the status of a facility that is
permanently closed and for which there is no comparable alternate facility.
		&#8220;Prepayment&#8221; means payment of any consideration for services or
the use of facilities made prior to the day on which the services or facilities
of the health club are fully open and available for regular use by the members.
		&#8220;Relocation&#8221; means the provision of health club services by the
health club that entered into the membership contract at a location other than
that designated in the member&#8217;s contract.

HISTORY: 1984, c. 738; 1985, c. 585; 1986, c. 187; 1990, cc. 392, 433; 1991, c.
149; 1992, c. 102; 2003, c. 344; 2007, c. 683; 2010, c. 439; 2014, c. 459; 2020,
c. 628.