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   § 6-13-12  Sales of gift certificates. – "Gift certificate" means a record evidencing a promise, made for monetary consideration, by the seller or issuer for the record that goods or services will be provided to the owner of the record to the value shown in the record and includes, but is not limited to, a record that contains a microprocessor chip, magnetic strip or other means of storage of information that is pre-funded and for which the value is decremented upon each use, a gift card, an electronic gift card, stored-value card or certificate, a store card, prepaid long distance telephone service that is activated by a prepaid card that requires dialing an access number or an access code for each call in addition to dialing the phone number to which the user of the prepaid card seeks to connect, or a similar record or card. Any person, firm, or corporation that sells gift certificates for any product or merchandise sold by the person, firm, or corporation, shall be required to record the sales and keep an accurate and complete record of each gift certificate sold. The record shall include the date of sale, the full value of the certificate, the identification number assigned by the retailer to the certificate, and the state in which the sale of the certificate took place. The retailer shall further be required to give to the purchaser of gift certificates exceeding fifty dollars ($50.00) a written and numbered receipt evidencing the sale of the certificate. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation of any kind to charge additional monthly or annual service or maintenance fees on gift certificates or to limit the time for the redemption of a gift certificate or to place an expiration date upon the gift certificate. No gift certificate or any agreement with respect to such gift certificate may contain language suggesting that an expiration date may apply to the gift certificate. Any person, firm, or corporation that shall violate the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars ($200). Due to the unlimited redemption period, the division of taxation shall not escheat the funds paid for those unredeemed gift certificates. Any unused portion of a redeemed gift certificate shall be afforded to the consumer by reissuing the gift certificate for the unused amount or providing cash where the balance due the consumer is less than one dollar ($1.00). This section shall not apply to the following:

   (a) Gift certificates that are distributed to a consumer pursuant to an awards, loyalty or promotional program without any money or other thing of value being given in exchange for the gift certificate by the consumer. Any restrictions or limitations which such gift certificates may be subject to must be disclosed to the consumer, in writing, at the time the gift certificates are distributed to the consumer.

   (b) Prepaid wireless telephone service or prepaid wireless telephone card. "Prepaid wireless telephone service" means wireless telephone service that is activated in advance by payment for a finite dollar amount of service or for a finite set of minutes that terminate either upon use by a customer and delivery by the wireless provider of an agreed-upon amount of service corresponding to the total dollar amount paid in advance or within a certain period of time following the initial purchase or activation, unless additional payments are made.

   § 33-21.1-14  Gift certificates and credit memos. – (a) A a credit memo issued by a business association that remains unredeemed for more than three (3) years after issuance is presumed abandoned. Pursuant to § 6-13-12, gift certificates shall not be presumed to be abandoned.

   (b) In the case of a credit memo, the amount presumed abandoned is the amount credited as shown in the memo itself.

   (c) The amount of a credit memo presumed abandoned is subject to the custody of this state in the following circumstances:

   (1) The records of the issuer show that the last known address of the recipient of the memo is in this state;

   (2) The records of the issuer do not show the address of the purchaser or recipient, but do show that the certificate or memo was issued in this state;

   (3) The records of the issuer do not show the address of the recipient and do not show the state where the memo was issued and the issuer has its principal place of business in this state;

   (4) The records of the issuer show that the address of the recipient, or if none, the state where the memo was issued, is in or is a state whose escheat or unclaimed property law does provide for the escheat or custodial taking of credit memos, and the issuer has its principal place of business in this state.

   (d) Commencing on July 1, 1992, a business association issuing a credit memo in this state shall have a duty to record either the name and address of a recipient of a credit memo or the state in which the memo was issued.