The Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO) Regulations against Deceitful Practices and Promotions was amended on October 24, 2009. These regulations apply to small, medium and large commercial establishments. These new amendments will apply to the “Black Friday” sales, so it is important that you revise the promotions you are planning so that these sales comply with the new regulations.

• Rule 13 and 14 refer to the availability of the advertised articles. Businesses must be prepared to have available the advertised articles in sufficient amounts to meet the anticipated demand during the special event, although the articles do not have to be available the whole sales period if the number of articles per store is included in the advertisement.

• If the advertised merchandise is not available and the advertisement did not specify the amount of items available, then a “Rain Check” or a substitute article has to be offered, or if there is no substitute article, the establishment will have to pay in cash the representative value of the discount of the article involved.

• Rule 23 specifies that Explanatory Notices published in the newspapers should also be exhibited at the entrance of the business, on all cash registers and at the place where the sales merchandise is positioned.

• Rule 8G contains the applicable stipulations for the publicity and promotion of games like LOTTO, traditional lottery or any other game of chance. This is new in the regulations and abolishes the Regulation on Publicity and Promotion of Games of Chance approved July 18, 2007.

• We recommend you contact the Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs if there is any doubt regarding these regulations.

The Red Flags Regulations started November 1, 2009 and is targeted to prevent customers’ identity theft. Businesses and organizations should adopt an identity theft program that will help detect alert signals (Red Flags) of possible identity theft, take effective measures to avoid identity theft and help mitigate damages caused by this kind of theft.

We suggest you send the Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO) your identity theft prevention program for their revision in order that you are sure that you comply with the regulations.