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This entry was published on 2014-11-28
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SECTION 350-B-1
Disclosures required in advertisements using a senior specific designation
General Business (GBS) CHAPTER 20, ARTICLE 22-A
§ 350-b-1. Disclosures required in advertisements using a senior
specific designation. 1. For purposes of this section, "senior specific
designation" shall mean a title, professional designation, credential,
certification, or professional description that indicates the person has
expertise or training in issues specifically related to seniors in their
field.

2. (a) Any person or business who uses a senior specific designation
in making representations for the purpose of inducing, or which are
likely to induce, directly or indirectly, the purchase of the
individual's services shall clearly and prominently disclose, in any
advertisement and in writing to any prospective client at the initial
meeting or consultation with such prospective client, the basis or
source of such senior specific designation, including whether the senior
specific designation was created by the person or business using it. For
the purposes of this section, "clearly and prominently" means:

(1) in written communications, including print and those made through
an electronic medium, the message shall be in a type size sufficiently
noticeable for an ordinary consumer to read and comprehend it, in type
that contrasts with the background against which it appears; and

(2) in oral communications, the message shall be delivered in a volume
sufficient for an ordinary consumer to hear it and comprehend it. Such
message shall be in understandable language and syntax regardless of how
the message is disseminated.

(b) If any communication is presented solely through oral, written, or
visual means, the message disseminated pursuant to paragraph (a) of this
subdivision shall be made through the same means.

(c) The requirements of this subdivision supplement, and shall not be
construed to limit, the obligations of any professional registered or
licensed pursuant to any other section of law and regulations
thereunder, nor shall they be construed to authorize the practice of any
licensed profession nor the offer of professional services by any
unlicensed person.

3. In addition to any civil penalty available under section three
hundred fifty-d of this article, whenever there shall be a violation of
this section, application may be made by the attorney general in the
name of the people of the state of New York to a court or justice having
jurisdiction by a special proceeding to issue an injunction, and upon
notice to the defendant of not less than five days, to enjoin and
restrain the continuance of such violations; and if it shall appear to
the satisfaction of the court or justice that the defendant has, in
fact, violated this section, an injunction may be issued by such court
or justice, enjoining and restraining any further violation, without
requiring proof that any person has, in fact, been injured or damaged
thereby. In connection with any such proposed application, the attorney
general is authorized to take proof and make a determination of the
relevant facts and to issue subpoenas in accordance with the civil
practice law and rules. In any such proceeding, the court may make
allowances to the attorney general as provided in paragraph six of
subdivision (a) of section eighty-three hundred three of the civil
practice law and rules, and direct restitution.