By Mr. Kafka of Stoughton, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 166) of Louis L. Kafka relative to the electronic pricing of food sold in grocery stores. Community Development and Small Business.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PETITION OF:

Louis L. Kafka

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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.

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An Act relative to price marking of food.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1.

                Section 184C of chapter 94 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2000 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the first paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

                As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:-

                “Universal product coding”, any system of coding which entails electronic pricing.

                “Electronic shelf labeling system” a system which is electronic that utilizes an electronic device attached to the shelf or any other point of sale, immediately below or above the item which conspicuously and clearly displays to the consumer the unity price and the price of the consumer commodity. Such electronic labeling system reads the exact same data as the electronic cash register scanning systems.

                “Electronic pricing systems” means a system that utilizes the universal product coding bar code by means of a scanner in combination with the cash register to record and total a customer’s purchases. The electronic pricing system shall be no less than ninety-five per cent accurate as determined by the director of standards.

                Except as hereinafter provided, every item in a food store and every item in a food department, shall operate under an electronic pricing system. At the point of display of the consumer item, there shall be an electronic label, immediately above, below, or adjacent to the consumer item that clearly displays to the consumer the total price of the consumer item in Arabic numerals and a description of the consumer item, including, but not limited to, the product name or description, brand and size of the item.

                The retailer must provide UPC scanners every twenty five feet of the store. The UPC scanners will be synchronized with the UPC code scanning capability of the retailer’s check out system used at the point of sale. It must be readily accessible to the consumers and located in a convenient place throughout the aisle.