AN ACT TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC AGAINST MISLEADING ADVERTISEMENTS PERTAINING TO THE SALE OF MOTOR FUELS AT RETAIL BY REGULATING THE METHOD OF RETAIL SALE OF MOTOR FUELS, AND PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. Every retail dealer of motor fuel shall publicly display and maintain on each pump or other dispensing equipment from which motor fuel is sold, a sign clearly and plainly stating the price per gallon of the motor fuel sold by said dealer from such pump or other dispensing equipment. All taxes, State and Federal, imposed with respect to the manufacture or sale of motor fuel shall be included in the price shown on said sign, and said sign shall contain a clear and plain statement of the amount of taxes included in said price, or, without specifying the amount thereof, said sign shall state that taxes are included in said price. All other price signs displayed by a retail dealer and any other advertising of motor fuel by a retail dealer which contains a reference to the per gallon price shall similarly state the price per gallon including tax. A retail dealer shall not sell at any other price than the price, including tax, so posted. No price sign posted by any retail dealer shall show any price in letters or figures of a larger size than the letters or figures in which the whole price including the amount of all taxes is shown.
No rebates, allowances, concessions, discounts or benefits shall be given, directly or indirectly, so as to permit any person to obtain motor fuels from a retail dealer below the posted price, nor shall any retail dealer use lotteries, prizes, wheels of fortune, punch-boards or other games of chance, in connection with the sale of motor fuels.
spicuous place, the name or trade-mark of the product stored therein or dispensed therefrom, and no retail dealer shall permit delivery into underground or above-ground containers, tanks or equipment of any motor fuel other than the brand represented or designated by the name or trade-mark appearing on such above-ground container or dispensing equipment attached to underground equipment.
If the motor fuel stored in or dispensed from any above-ground equipment by a retail dealer shall not have a brand name or trademark, such container or dispensing equipment shall have conspicuously displayed thereon the words "No Brand."
Section 3. "Motor fuel," as used in this Act, shall mean and include any substance or combination of substances which is intend.. ed to be or is capable of being used for the purpose of propelling or running by combustion any internal combustion engine and sold or used for that purpose, except the products commonly known as kerosene and/or distillate or petroleum products of lower gravity (Baume Scale) when not used to propel a motor vehicle or for compounding or combining with any motor fuel.
"Retail dealer," as used in this Act, shall mean and include any person, firm or corporation operating a service station, filling station, store, garage or other place of business for the safe of motor fuel for delivery into the service tank or tanks of any vehicle propelled by an internal combustion engine.
Section 4. The State Highway Department is hereby authorized and directed to make such rules and regulations as it may deem necessary for the proper enforcement of this Act, and to utilize its, facilities to carry this Act into effect.
Section 5. Every retail dealer who shall violate any provision 1 of this Act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall, for each offense, be subject to a penalty of not less than fifty dollars ($50.00), nor more than two hundred dollars ($200.00) or be imprisoned for a period not exceeding three (3) months, or both, in the discretion of the Court.
Section 6. This Act shall take effect at the expiration of thirty (30) days after enactment and approval.
Section 7. If any part of this Act shall be declared invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining parts of this Act shall be unaffected.