                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

REPRESENTATION OF ELIGIBILITY TO WIN OR TO RECEIVE A PRIZE, GIFT OR ITEM OF
VALUE (§ 59.1-417)

A. No person shall, in connection with the sale or lease or solicitation for
sale or lease of goods, property or service, represent that another person has a
chance to win or to receive a prize, gift or item of value without clearly and
conspicuously disclosing on whose behalf the contest or promotion is conducted,
as well as all material conditions which a participant must satisfy. In an oral
solicitation all material conditions shall be disclosed prior to requesting the
consumer to enter into the sale or lease. Additionally, in any written material
covered by this section, each of the following shall be clearly and prominently
disclosed (i) immediately adjacent to the first identification of the prize,
gift or item of value to which it relates or (ii) in a separate section entitled
&#8220;Consumer Disclosure&#8221; which title shall be printed in no less than
ten-point bold face type and which section shall contain only a description of
the prize, gift or item of value and the disclosures outlined in subdivisions 1,
2 and 3 of this subsection:

   1. The actual retail value of each item or prize, which for purposes of this
   section shall be (i) the price at which substantial sales of the item were
   made in the area in which the offer was received within the last ninety days
   or (ii) the actual cost of the item of value, gift or prize to the person on
   whose behalf the contest or promotion is conducted plus no more than 700
   percent, but in no case shall it exceed such person&#8217;s good faith
   estimate of the appraised retail value;

   2. The actual number of each item, gift or prize to be awarded; and

   3. The odds of receiving each item, gift or prize.

B. All disclosures required by this chapter to be in writing shall comply with
the following:

   1. All dollar values shall be stated in arabic numerals and be preceded by a
   dollar sign ($).

   2. The number of each item, gift or prize to be awarded and the odds of
   receiving each item, gift or prize shall be stated in arabic numerals and
   shall be written in a manner which is clear and understandable.

C. It shall be unlawful to notify a person that he will receive a gift, prize or
item of value that has as a condition of receiving the gift, prize or item of
value the requirement that he pay any money, or purchase, lease or rent any
goods or services, unless there shall have been clearly and conspicuously
disclosed the nature of the charges to be incurred, including, but not limited
to, any shipping charge and handling charges. Such disclosure shall be given (i)
on the face of any written materials or (ii) prior to requesting or inviting the
person to enter into the sale or lease in any oral notification.

D. The provisions of this section shall not apply where to be eligible:

   1. Participants are asked only to complete and mail, or deposit at a local
   retail commercial establishment, an entry blank obtainable locally or by mail,
   or to call in their entry by telephone; or

   2. Participants are never required to listen to a sales presentation and never
   requested or required to pay any sum of money for any merchandise, service or
   item of value.

E. Nothing in this section shall create any liability for acts by the publisher,
owner, agent or employee of a newspaper, periodical, radio station, television
station, cable-television system or other advertising medium arising out of the
publication or dissemination of any advertisement or promotion governed by this
section, when the publisher, owner, agent or employee did not know that the
advertisement or promotion violated the requirements of this section.

F. Every solicitation that seeks to induce its recipient to call a pay-per-call
service telephone number to receive any information about a prize, gift, or item
of value shall (i) conform to the provisions of this section, and (ii) disclose
the total cost of the pay-per-call service immediately adjacent to the
pay-per-call service telephone number. In written materials, this disclosure
shall be in ten-point bold-faced type. All solicitations delivered through the
electronic media shall contain the disclosures in such size, duration, or volume
so as to be clearly readable or audible to the recipient.

HISTORY: 1989, c. 689; 1991, c. 154.