Definitions

PURPOSE: The attorney general administers and enforces the provisions of the Merchandising Practices Act, Chapter 407, RSMo. The attorney general may make rules necessary to the administration and enforcement of the provisions of Chapter 407, RSMo, and, in order to provide notice to the public, may specify the meaning of terms, whether or not used in the Act. This rule defines certain terms used in the enforcement of the Merchandising Practices Act and in the rules made thereunder. (1) Unless inconsistent with Chapter 407, RSMo, the following terms and phrases shall mean: (A) “Abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process” shall mean the use or threatened use of a law or legal process, whether administrative, civil, or criminal, in any manner or for any purpose for which the law was not designed, in order to exert pressure on another person to cause that person to take some action or refrain from taking some action; (B) “Commercial sexual conduct” shall mean any sexual conduct—as that term is defined in section 566.010(5), RSMo—on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person; (C) “Debt-bondage relationship” shall mean any agreement, arrangement, or other relationship between a debtor and another person or persons in which— 1. The debtor pledges his or her personal services, or the personal services of a person under his or her control, as security for a debt; and 2. The value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined; (D) “Involuntary servitude” shall mean a condition of servitude induced by means of— 1. Any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that, if the person did not enter into or continue in such condition, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint; or 2. The abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process; and (E) “Merchandise” shall have the meaning set forth in section 407.010(4), RSMo. AUTHORITY: section 407.145, RSMo 2016.* Original rule filed April 3, 2017, effective Oct. 30, 2017. *Original authority: 407.145, RSMo 1986, amended 1993.