No person, partnership, association, corporation, or limited liability company may engage in the business of buying, selling, leasing, or exchanging aircraft, or advertise or hold out to the public as being in the business of buying, selling, leasing, or exchanging of aircraft without first being licensed as provided in this chapter.

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The aeronautics commission shall prescribe and furnish license and renewal license application forms. A nonrefundable fee of one hundred fifty dollars must accompany each application for each dealer location. A dealer’s license expires on December thirty-first of each year, and application for renewal must be made before the expiration of the current dealer’s license. For each annual one hundred fifty dollar license fee or renewal, the dealer must be issued one dealer’s registration for one demonstrator aircraft. Additional dealer’s demonstrator aircraft registrations must be issued to a licensed dealer upon the payment of ten dollars for each additional demonstrator aircraft, provided such demonstrator aircraft are not used for commercial purposes to produce rental or air taxi revenue, or used for aerial spraying while awaiting sale or trade. All new or used demonstrator aircraft which are for resale but are used by a dealer to produce commercial revenue, or air taxi or rental revenue or for aerial spraying must be registered with the commission and the annual registration fees paid in accordance with the laws of this state. Fees from license applications of aircraft dealers must be deposited with the state treasurer and credited to the aeronautics commission special fund. Fees received for additional aircraft registrations for demonstrator aircraft must be deposited with the state treasurer, who shall deposit such funds in the aeronautics commission special fund.

An applicant for a license or renewal of a license shall submit to the aeronautics commission an inventory of aircraft held by the applicant along with a separate demonstration flight log of time accumulated for those demonstration flights and aircraft tachometer readings     for each aircraft on the date of initial application and on November thirtieth before the yearly renewal time. Information on inventory must be provided to the commission on an approved report form. If an aircraft is held in inventory for more than twelve months and is flown more than fifty hours of flight time in any given twelve-month period of time, the commission shall determine if the aircraft is a demonstration aircraft. When the hours flown exceed fifty hours in the twelve-month period, the aircraft is presumed not to be a demonstration aircraft and the aircraft excise tax must be remitted to the aeronautics commission under chapter 57-40.5 unless upon satisfactory proof the aeronautics commission determines the aircraft is used exclusively for demonstration purposes.

The aeronautics commission shall issue dealer’s licenses only to dealers who maintain a permanent place of business on an airport open for public use, whether publicly or privately owned in the state of North Dakota, with runway length, aprons, and safe aircraft approaches adequate for fixed wing aircraft or helicopters of the type sold by such a dealer. An established central place on an airport means that such dealer has an enclosed office, building, or structure owned or leased with adequate facilities and equipment for the maintenance, service, and repair of aircraft. The dealer shall maintain business records in the dealer’s place of business. The dealer’s place of business must be adequate to conduct an aircraft dealer’s business where selling, trading, and bartering of aircraft may be conducted and may not be a residence or temporary quarters or so-called permanent quarters occupied pursuant to temporary arrangements. An applicant for an aircraft dealer’s license cannot qualify with only a privately owned aircraft hangar as a place of business, which is usually used for storage of aircraft on an airport open for public use. An aircraft dealer to qualify for a dealer’s license must maintain an aircraft or helicopter service and repair shop on an airport open for public use with a minimum of five thousand dollars in tools, equipment, aircraft parts, and supplies, as determined by a representative of the director of the aeronautics commission.

The aeronautics commission shall issue a license only after inspection and approval of the aircraft dealer’s facilities.