§ 26a. — Restrictions on the purchase of gasohol and synthetic motor fuel.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 15USC26a]
TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND TRADE
CHAPTER 1--MONOPOLIES AND COMBINATIONS IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE
Sec. 26a. Restrictions on the purchase of gasohol and synthetic
motor fuel
(a) Limitations on the use of credit instruments; sales, resales, and
transfers
Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, it shall be
unlawful for any person engaged in commerce, in the course of such
commerce, directly or indirectly to impose any condition, restriction,
agreement, or understanding that--
(1) limits the use of credit instruments in any transaction
concerning the sale, resale, or transfer of gasohol or other
synthetic motor fuel of equivalent usability in any case in which
there is no similar limitation on transactions concerning such
person's conventional motor fuel; or
(2) otherwise unreasonably discriminates against or unreasonably
limits the sale, resale, or transfer of gasohol or other synthetic
motor fuel of equivalent usability in any case in which such
synthetic or conventional motor fuel is sold for use, consumption,
or resale within the United States.
(b) Credit fees; equivalent conventional motor fuel sales; labeling of
pumps; product liability disclaimers; advertising support;
furnishing facilities
(1) Nothing in this section or in any other provision of law in
effect on December 2, 1980, which is specifically applicable to the sale
of petroleum products shall preclude any person referred to in
subsection (a) of this section from imposing a reasonable fee for credit
on the sale, resale, or transfer of the gasohol or other synthetic motor
fuel referred to in subsection (a) of this section if such fee equals no
more than the actual costs to such person of extending that credit.
(2) The prohibitions in this section shall not apply to any person
who makes available sufficient supplies of gasohol and other synthetic
motor fuels of equivalent usability to satisfy his customers' needs for
such products, if the gasohol and other synthetic fuels are made
available on terms and conditions which are equivalent to the terms and
conditions on which such person's conventional motor fuel products are
made available.
(3) Nothing in this section shall--
(A) preclude any person referred to in subsection (a) of this
section from requiring reasonable labeling of pumps dispensing the
gasohol or other synthetic motor fuel referred to in subsection (a)
of this section to indicate, as appropriate, that such gasohol or
other synthetic motor fuel is not manufactured, distributed, or sold
by such person;
(B) preclude such person from issuing appropriate disclaimers of
product liability for damage resulting from use of the gasohol or
other synthetic motor fuel;
(C) require such person to provide advertising support for the
gasohol or other synthetic motor fuel; or
(D) require such person to furnish or provide, at such person's
own expense, any additional pumps, tanks, or other related
facilities required for the sale of the gasohol or other synthetic
motor fuel.
(c) ``United States'' defined
As used in this section, ``United States'' includes the several
States, the District of Columbia, any territory of the United States,
and any insular possession or other place under the jurisdiction of the
United States.
(Oct. 15, 1914, ch. 323, Sec. 26, as added Pub. L. 96-493, Sec. 2, Dec.
2, 1980, 94 Stat. 2568.)
Short Title
For short title of Pub. L. 96-493 as the ``Gasohol Competition Act
of 1980'', see section 1 of Pub. L. 96-493, set out as a Short Title of
1980 Amendment note under section 1 of this title.
