‘Phony Florist’ Bill Signed
Last month, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell signed legislation that makes it more difficult for order-gatherers to masquerade as local florists. The new law establishes “”a private cause of legal action”” against out-of-state businesses that pretend to be local florists, a Pennsylvania Floral Industry Association press release noted.
According to a news release from the governor’s office, the law, Act 164, prohibits a supplier from misrepresenting its geographic location by listing a fictitious or assumed business name in a local telephone directory that:
- fails to list or identify the locality and state of the supplier’s business; and
- forwards or transfers calls to a business location outside the calling area covered by the local telephone directory; or where
- the supplier’s business location is located in a county which is not contiguous to a county covered by the local telephone directory.
The law applies to telephone listings in a local telephone directory published or updated for the calling area at least 90 days after the effective date of the act.
For more information on this issue, visit www.safnow.org.
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