Law / United States / 
New Jersey
Fair Price Protection Act, surveillance pricing of groceries and other foodstuffs
N.J. Stat. §§ 56:8-23.1 to 56:8-23.7 (P.L. 2026, c. 55)
A data subject rights rule binding private bodies.
- Enforcement body
- New Jersey Attorney General
- Obligation class
- Prohibition
- Audit expectation
- none
As of .
What it requires
- Do not use surveillance pricing, or any other pricing strategy that determines or varies the sale price of groceries and other foodstuffs based, in whole or in part, on personal data.
- Surveillance pricing includes pricing of groceries and other foodstuffs that an algorithm or automated system determines, adjusts, optimizes, or recommends using personal data, including data derived or inferred from other data, where the result is price variation for individual consumers or groups of consumers, and pricing based on data collected through electronic surveillance technology such as sensors, cameras, device tracking, and biometric monitoring.
- You may still offer a different price on groceries and other foodstuffs based upon reasonable costs of providing them to different consumers, upon a bona fide discount whose eligibility conditions are disclosed and uniformly offered, or upon a bona fide discount offered as part of a loyalty program.
- Use personal data that you employ to offer a difference in price on those grounds for no other purpose without the consumer's consent.
- The act does not reach food or beverages sold by an establishment primarily engaged in preparing and selling food or beverages for immediate consumption.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
What it makes you log
Logging duty
The prohibition states no duty to create, keep, or produce a log or record of pricing decisions.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
New Jersey's Fair Price Protection Act, P.L.2026, chapter 55, was approved on . Sections 1 to 7 of the act are codified at sections 56:8-23.1 to 56:8-23.7 of the New Jersey Statutes. The act may be cited as the Fair Price Protection Act. The act makes it an unlawful practice and a violation of P.L.1960, c.39 (C.56:8-1 et seq.) for a person to use the pricing strategies it names on groceries and other foodstuffs.
The pricing strategies the act names include any pricing strategy that determines or varies the sale price of groceries and other foodstuffs based, in whole or in part, on personal data.
Surveillance pricing includes a pricing strategy in which the price of groceries and other foodstuffs is determined, adjusted, optimized, or recommended by an algorithm or automated system, based, in whole or in part, on using personal data, including data derived, or inferred from other data, and that results in price variation for individual consumers or groups of consumers.
Surveillance pricing also includes the pricing of groceries and other foodstuffs based on data collected through electronic surveillance technology, which involves the use of technological methods, systems, or tools including, but not limited to, sensors, cameras, device tracking, biometric monitoring, and other forms of observation or data collection. The prohibition does not bar a person from offering a different price on groceries and other foodstuffs based upon one of three grounds.
One ground is reasonable costs associated with providing groceries and other foodstuffs to different consumers. Another ground is a bona fide discount whose eligibility conditions or criteria are conspicuously disclosed and uniformly offered based upon those conditions or criteria, and to which any member of a broadly defined group, including a group of teachers or veterans, is eligible.
A third ground is a bona fide discount offered as part of a loyalty program, including loyalty programs that allow the accrual or exchange of points, credits, or any similar nonmonetary system of value. To the extent a person employs personal data to offer a difference in price under those grounds, that personal data shall not be used for any other purpose without the consumer's consent.
The act does not apply to the pricing, advertisement, offer, or sale of food or beverages by an establishment primarily engaged in the preparation and sale of food or beverages for immediate consumption, whether consumed on or off the premises. Section 4 of the act sets a one-year moratorium on the new use of electronic shelf labels in the State.
The Attorney General may bring a civil action on behalf of the residents of the State in any court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin the act or practice and to enforce compliance with the act. The act takes effect on the first day of the 13th month next following the date of enactment, except that section 4 takes effect on the first day of the seventh month next following the date of enactment and section 5 takes effect immediately.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app makes high-risk automated decisions or tracks devices.