The Senate on Wednesday ratified the bicameral conference committee report on a proposed bill prohibiting the expiry of gift checks. which should be treated as real money or cash, Senator Miguel Zubiri said.
“GCs should be treated as real money or cash, so we ban putting an expiry date on gift checks, and, putting an expiry date on the unused value, credit or balance stored in the GC,” said Zubiri, author of the proposal.
Earlier, Zubiri said that Congress will push for the approval of the law and its corresponding Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) in time for Christmas.
“Gift check, gift certificate, or gift card” refers to “an instrument issued to any person, natural or juridical, for monetary consideration, honored upon presentation at a single merchant or an affiliated group of merchants as payment for consumer goods or services.”
“The instrument can be in the form of paper, card, code or other device and shall remain valid until the cessation of business of the issuer,” added the Mindanao lawmaker.
Excluded from the coverage of the law are “GCs issued to consumers including but not limited to those under loyalty, rewards or promotional programs as determined by the Department of Trade and Industry [DTI].”
According to the measure, the DTI shall have exclusive jurisdiction in the implementation of the GC law. The Implementing Rules and Regulations shall be promulgated by the DTI and other concerned agencies within 90 days from the effectivity of the GC law.
“The issuer and its accredited merchant may refuse to honor gift checks/certificates/cards under the following circumstances: (a) When the GC is lost due to no fault of the issuer; (b) When the GC is mutilated or defaced due to no fault of the issuer and such damage prevents the issuer from identifying the security and authenticity features thereof.”
Violators of the proposed law shall be slapped with a fine of P500,000 to P1 million for the first offense.
For the second offense, in addition to the fine, the issuance of GC by the offending issuer shall be suspended for 3 months; for the 3rd offense, in addition to the fine, the issuance of GC by the offending issuer shall be canceled.