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The Florida Senate

2018 Florida Statutes

Title XXXIII REGULATION OF TRADE, COMMERCE, INVESTMENTS, AND SOLICITATIONS
Chapter 501 CONSUMER PROTECTION Entire Chapter
SECTION 604
Exemptions.
F.S. 501.604
501.604 Exemptions.—The provisions of this part, except ss. 501.608 and 501.616(6) and (7), do not apply to:
(1) A person engaging in commercial telephone solicitation where the solicitation is an isolated transaction and not done in the course of a pattern of repeated transactions of like nature.
(2) A person soliciting for religious, charitable, political, or educational purposes. A person soliciting for other noncommercial purposes is exempt only if that person is soliciting for a nonprofit corporation and if that corporation is properly registered as such with the Secretary of State and is included within the exemption of s. 501(c)(3) or (6) of the Internal Revenue Code.
(3) A person who does not make the major sales presentation during the telephone solicitation and who does not intend to, and does not actually, complete or obtain provisional acceptance of a sale during the telephone solicitation, but who makes the major sales presentation and completes the sale at a later face-to-face meeting between the seller and the prospective purchaser in accordance with the home solicitation provisions in this chapter. However, if a seller, directly following a telephone solicitation, causes an individual whose primary purpose it is to go to the prospective purchaser to collect the payment or deliver any item purchased, this exemption does not apply.
(4) A licensed securities, commodities, or investment broker, dealer, or investment adviser, when soliciting within the scope of his or her license, or a licensed associated person of a securities, commodities, or investment broker, dealer, or investment adviser, when soliciting within the scope of his or her license. As used in this section, “licensed securities, commodities, or investment broker, dealer, or investment adviser” means a person subject to license or registration as such by the Securities and Exchange Commission, by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority or other self-regulatory organization as defined by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. s. 78l, or by an official or agency of this state or of any state of the United States. As used in this section, “licensed associated person of a securities, commodities, or investment broker, dealer, or investment adviser” means an associated person registered or licensed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority or other self-regulatory organization as defined by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. s. 78l, or by an official or agency of this state or of any state of the United States.
(5) A person primarily soliciting the sale of a newspaper of general circulation.
(6) A book, video, or record club or contractual plan or arrangement:
(a) Under which the seller provides the consumer with a form which the consumer may use to instruct the seller not to ship the offered merchandise.
(b) Which is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission trade regulation concerning “use of negative option plans by sellers in commerce.”
(c) Which provides for the sale of books, records, or videos which are not covered under paragraph (a) or paragraph (b), including continuity plans, subscription arrangements, standing order arrangements, supplements, and series arrangements under which the seller periodically ships merchandise to a consumer who has consented in advance to receive such merchandise on a periodic basis.
(7) A supervised financial institution or parent, subsidiary, or affiliate thereof operating within the scope of supervised activity. As used in this section, “supervised financial institution” means a commercial bank, trust company, savings and loan association, mutual savings bank, credit union, industrial loan company, consumer finance lender, commercial finance lender, or insurer, provided that the institution is subject to supervision by an official or agency of this state, of any state, or of the United States. For the purposes of this exemption, “affiliate” means a person who directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls or is controlled by, or is under common control with, a supervised financial institution.
(8) Any licensed insurance broker, agent, customer representative, or solicitor when soliciting within the scope of his or her license. As used in this section, “licensed insurance broker, agent, customer representative, or solicitor” means any insurance broker, agent, customer representative, or solicitor licensed by an official or agency of this state or of any state of the United States.
(9) A person soliciting the sale of services provided by a cable television system operating under authority of a franchise or permit.
(10) A business-to-business sale where:
(a) The commercial telephone seller has been lawfully operating continuously for at least 3 years under the same business name and has at least 50 percent of its dollar volume consisting of repeat sales to existing businesses;
(b) The purchaser business intends to resell or offer for purposes of advertisement or as a promotional item the property or goods purchased; or
(c) The purchaser business intends to use the property or goods purchased in a recycling, reuse, remanufacturing, or manufacturing process.
(11) A person who solicits sales by periodically publishing and delivering a catalog of the seller’s merchandise to prospective purchasers, if the catalog:
(a) Contains a written description or illustration of each item offered for sale.
(b) Includes the business address or home office address of the seller.
(c) Includes at least 20 pages of written material and illustrations and is distributed in more than one state.
(d) Has an annual circulation by mailing of not less than 150,000.
(12) A person who solicits contracts for the maintenance or repair of goods previously purchased from the person making the solicitation or on whose behalf the solicitation is made.
(13) A commercial telephone seller licensed pursuant to chapter 516 or part III of chapter 520. For purposes of this exemption, the seller must solicit to sell a consumer good or service within the scope of his or her license and the completed transaction must be subject to the provisions of chapter 516 or part III of chapter 520.
(14) A telephone company subject to chapter 364, or affiliate thereof or its agents, or a telecommunications business that is regulated by the Florida Public Service Commission, or a Federal Communications Commission licensed cellular telephone company or other bona fide radio telecommunication services provider. For the purposes of this exemption, “affiliate” means a person who directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls or is controlled by, or is under common control with, a telephone company subject to chapter 364.
(15) A person who is licensed pursuant to chapter 497 and who is soliciting within the scope of the license.
(16) An issuer or a subsidiary of an issuer that has a class of securities which is subject to s. 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. s. 78l, and which is either registered or exempt from registration under paragraph (A), paragraph (B), paragraph (C), paragraph (E), paragraph (F), paragraph (G), or paragraph (H) of subsection (g)(2) of that section.
(17) A business soliciting exclusively the sale of telephone answering services provided that the telephone answering services will be supplied by the solicitor.
(18) A person soliciting a transaction regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission if the person is registered or temporarily licensed for this activity with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission under the Commodity Exchange Act, 7 U.S.C. ss. 1 et seq., and the registration or license has not expired or been suspended or revoked.
(19) A person soliciting the sale of food or produce as defined in chapter 500 or chapter 504 if the solicitation neither intends to result in, or actually results in, a sale which costs the purchaser in excess of $500.
(20) A person who is registered pursuant to part XI of chapter 559 and who is soliciting within the scope of the registration.
(21) A person soliciting business from prospective consumers who have an existing business relationship with or who have previously purchased from the business enterprise for which the solicitor is calling, if the solicitor is operating under the same exact business name.
(22) A person who has been operating, for at least 1 year, a retail business establishment under the same name as that used in connection with telemarketing, and both of the following occur on a continuing basis:
(a) Either products are displayed and offered for sale or services are offered for sale and provided at the business establishment.
(b) A majority of the seller’s business involves the buyer obtaining such products or services at the seller’s location.
(23) A person who is a registered developer or exchange company pursuant to chapter 721 and who is soliciting within the scope of the chapter.
(24) Any person who has been lawfully providing telemarketing sales services continuously for at least 5 years under the same ownership and control and who derives 75 percent of its gross telemarketing sales revenues from contracts with persons exempted in this section.
(25) A person licensed pursuant to chapter 475 and who is soliciting within the scope of the chapter.
(26) A publisher, or an agent of a publisher by written agreement, who solicits the sale of his or her periodical or magazine of general, paid circulation. The term “paid circulation” shall not include magazines that are only circulated as part of a membership package or that are given as a free gift or prize from the publisher or agent of the publisher by written agreement.
(27) A person who is a licensed operator or an identification cardholder as defined in chapter 482, and who is soliciting within the scope of the chapter.
(28) A licensee, or an affiliate of a licensee, regulated under chapter 560, the Money Transmitters’ Code, for foreign currency exchange services.
History.—ss. 1, 2, ch. 91-237; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 3, ch. 92-186; s. 60, ch. 92-291; s. 1, ch. 93-235; s. 8, ch. 95-314; s. 2, ch. 96-252; s. 1160, ch. 97-103; s. 7, ch. 99-307; s. 56, ch. 2003-164; s. 146, ch. 2004-301; s. 18, ch. 2013-251; s. 4, ch. 2017-118.