Rhode Island General Laws 5-49-2. License required to sell or fit hearing aids
(a) No person shall engage in the dispensing, selling, fitting, or ordering the use of hearing aids, or display a sign, or in any other way advertise or represent themself as a person who practices the fitting and sale of hearing aids after August 1, 1973, unless he or she holds an unsuspended, unrevoked license issued by the department as provided in this chapter.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 5-49-2
- Board: means the board of hearing aid dealers and fitters. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-49-1
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Department: means the department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-49-1
- Hearing aid: means any wearable instrument or device designed for or offered for the purpose of aiding or compensating for impaired human hearing, and any parts, attachments, or accessories, including ear molds, but excluding batteries and cords. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-49-1
- License: means a license issued by the state under this chapter to hearing aid dealers and fitters. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-49-1
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
- sale: means any transfer of title or of the right to use by lease, bailment, or any other contract, excluding wholesale transactions with distributors or dealers. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-49-1
(b) The license shall be conspicuously posted in his or her office or place of business. Duplicate licenses shall be issued by the department to valid license holders operating more than one office without additional payment.
(c) A license under this chapter shall confer upon the holder the right to order the use of, select, fit, and sell hearing aids.
(d) Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit a corporation, partnership, trust, association, or other organization maintaining an established business address, from selling or offering for sale hearing aids at retail without a license; provided, that it employs only properly licensed natural persons in the direct sale, ordering the use, and fitting of those products.
(e) Those corporations, partnerships, trusts, associations, or other organizations shall file annually with the board a list of all licensed hearing aid dealers and fitters directly or indirectly employed by it.
(f) Those organizations shall also file with the board a statement, on a form approved by the board, that they submit themselves to the rules and regulations of the department and the provisions of this chapter which the department deems applicable to them.
History of Section.
P.L. 1973, ch. 243, § 1; P.L. 2023, ch. 89, § 1, effective June 19, 2023; P.L. 2023, ch. 90, § 1, effective June 19, 2023.