NJ Backs Off On A Double Message For Merchants

A recently signed law in New Jersey will relieve merchants from an obligation to collect personal data from gift card buyers. The old law, which required companies operating in New Jersey to maintain records of name, address, and ZIP code of gift card purchasers “stood in stark contrast to the state’s point-of-sale data collection law, which prohibited merchants from collecting personal information from consumers in connection with a credit card purchase,” write Fox Arent attorneys, who consider the new law good news for merchants.  New Jersey continues to have a law that requires value remaining after a gift card has been dormant for five years to eschew to a state account held for consumers who might want to claim the funds.