An Act concerning the sale of certain jewelry and supplementing Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
C.2C:21-36 Sale of secondhand jewelry.
1. No person engaged in the business of retailing, wholesaling, or smelting jewelry who purchases any article of used or secondhand jewelry shall sell or offer to sell that used or secondhand jewelry, unless that person:
a. Maintains, for five years, a record of the name, address and telephone number of the person from whom it was purchased and:
(1) a descriptive list of any used jewelry purchased from that seller, including any identifying characteristics of that jewelry; or
(2) photographs of any used jewelry purchased from that seller;
b. Verifies the identity of the person selling the jewelry by requesting and examining a photograph-bearing, valid State or federal issued driver’s license or other government issued form of identification bearing a photograph;
c. Delivers, on a weekly basis, to the police department having jurisdiction in the location of that person’s place of business a copy of the record of all used jewelry purchased by that person during the preceding week;
d. Maintains in his possession any used jewelry purchased for not less than three business days following the delivery of the record of the purchase of that jewelry to the police department, as required by subsection c. of this section; and
e. Maintains, for five years, a copy of any list provided by an individual pursuant to section 2 of P.L.2009, c.214 (C.2C:21-37).
Nothing in this section shall be construed to apply to pawnbrokers licensed and regulated pursuant to the pawnbroking law, R.S.45:22-1 et seq., or sales made through an Internet website. Nothing in this section shall be construed to apply to a person engaged in retail, provided the sale of jewelry is not his primary business and further provided the person does not engage in the purchase of used or secondhand jewelry on more than three days in a calendar year.
C.2C:21-37 Requirements for reselling of secondhand jewelry.
2. Any individual who purchases used or secondhand jewelry from another individual with the intent of selling that jewelry to a person engaged in the business of retailing, wholesaling, or smelting jewelry shall:
a. Maintain, for five years, a record of the sale of that jewelry, including, but not limited to, the date the jewelry is sold; name of the person engaged in the business of retailing, wholesaling, or smelting jewelry to whom it is sold; and an itemized, descriptive list of that jewelry; and
b. Provide an itemized, descriptive list of the jewelry sold to the person engaged in the business of retailing, wholesaling, or smelting jewelry at the time of sale.
C.2C:21-38 Requisite knowledge, belief for violation.
3. The requisite knowledge or belief for a violation of N.J.S.2C:20-7 is presumed in the case of a person subject to the provisions of section 1 or 2 of P.L.2009, c.214 (C.2C:21-36 or C.2C:21-37) who purchases any article of used or secondhand jewelry and fails to comply with the requirements of section 1 or 2 of P.L.2009, c.214 (C.2C:21-36 or C.2C:21-37), as applicable.
C.2C:21-39 Report by purchaser.
4. Any person who purchases any article of used or secondhand jewelry shall immediately report to an appropriate law enforcement agency any delivery or sale of used jewelry under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to believe the used jewelry was probably stolen or otherwise inappropriately obtained.
C.2C:21-40 Immunity.
5. Notwithstanding any provision of the law to the contrary, any person who reports information to a law enforcement official or agency concerning the suspect sale of used jewelry shall be immune from any civil liability on account of the report, unless such person has acted in bad faith or with malicious purpose.
C.2C:21-41 Regulations.
6. The Attorney General shall promulgate regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B‑1 et seq.), necessary to effectuate the provisions of this act.
7. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month following enactment, but the Attorney General may take such anticipatory acts in advance of that date as may be necessary for the timely implementation of this act.
Approved January 16, 2010.