This section bans certain unfair milk-pricing and promotional practices, including selling milk below cost, discriminatory pricing, and bundled sales below the separate prices.
The prohibited practices described in this section are declared to be unfair trade practices and are prohibited and made unlawful when done with the intent or with the effect of injuring a competitor, of destroying competition or of creating a monopoly. No processor or distributor shall do, nor shall any retailer accept the benefit of, any of the following: Advertise, offer to sell or sell within the state, at wholesale or retail, any milk product for less than cost to the processor or distributor; Discriminate in price in the sale of any milk product between any of the towns or counties of this state; provided, that different prices that reflect actual transportation cost from point of processing to point of sale, or the actual transportation cost from point of purchase to point of resale, shall not be construed as discriminatory; or Give or offer to give any retailer or prospective retail customer of a processor or distributor, or of their agents or employees, any free service or any other thing of value, including, but not limited to, the following, which, together with any similar practices, are declared to be unfair trade practices when conducted with the intent of committing any of the acts outlined in this section: advertising allowance; brokerage fees or payments, or sales commissions, a part or all of which are passed on by the ostensible recipient of the fees, payments or commissions to the customer; compensation for jointly used advertising space; advertising displays of any kind, including, but not limited to, newspaper advertising, hand bills, booklets, television or radio advertising, and signs in or outside of the customer's place of business; furnishing of hosts or hostesses or demonstrators in stores to make sales to the store's customers; donations directly or indirectly made, whether by way of money, goods, labor or services; free equipment; cleaning and servicing of equipment; or rent on space used by retailer for storing or displaying processor's or distributor's merchandise. However, nothing in this subdivision (b)(3) shall be construed as prohibiting the furnishing, free of cost by a processor or distributor to a retailer, at the retailer's place of business, printed advertising material, such as recipes and informational materials for the promotion of the sale of the processor's or distributor's products. No retailer shall advertise, offer to sell or sell within the state any milk product for less than cost to the retailer. No person shall advertise, offer to sell or sell any milk product with any other commodity or service at a combined price that is less than the aggregate of the prices for which the milk product and the other commodity or service is separately offered for sale. In all proceedings brought to enforce this section, proof of consistent or repeated advertisements, offers to sell or sales of milk products at less than cost, as defined in this part, the advertisements, offers to sell and sales forming a pattern of sales below cost, shall be prima facie evidence of the intent to injure competitors and destroy or lessen competition.