NEWARK — Governor Mikie Sherrill signed the Fair Price Protection Act into law, protecting New Jersey shoppers from discriminatory surveillance pricing. The law prevents businesses from using personal information, such as online activity, location or purchasing history, to charge different prices for identical products based on what an algorithm predicts a shopper is willing or able to pay.
“New Jersey families are already feeling the pressure of higher costs,” Sherrill said in a statement. “The last thing they need is companies secretly using their personal data to charge them more than someone else for the exact same product. This law puts New Jersey shoppers first by protecting their privacy and ensuring fairness in pricing.”
Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said the price shoppers pay at the grocery store should be based on the cost of a product, not on what invasive data collection suggests they may be willing to pay, and that her office is committed to enforcing the new law.
Surveillance pricing uses consumer data, often gathered through large-scale data collection and artificial intelligence, to set prices for individual shoppers. While retailers have long adjusted prices based on market conditions, surveillance pricing allows them to tailor prices based on the characteristics of individual shoppers, often without their knowledge.
The Fair Price Protection Act prohibits retailers from using personal data to set individualized prices on groceries and other necessities, but does not ban loyalty programs or discounts. It also places a one-year moratorium on new use of electronic shelf labels while the New Jersey Innovation Authority studies the technology’s effects, though existing labels may still be used, repaired or replaced.
“Surveillance pricing is an abuse of modern technology where artificial intelligence is used to set different prices for different customers,” said Senator Joe Cryan, a Democrat representing Union County. “Consumers are being hurt at a time when families are already struggling to pay their bills.”
Assemblyman Onyema, a Democrat representing Essex and Union counties, said the law establishes clear protections to ensure that pricing is based on the product being sold rather than on data collected about the buyer.
Ademola Oyefeso, international vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, praised the law’s moratorium on electronic shelf labels as an important step to ensure the technology does not harm shoppers or workers, noting large grocery chains nationwide are rushing to adopt it.
The Fair Price Protection Act complements the Sherrill administration’s recent actions on junk fees and algorithmic rent-setting, establishing guardrails for emerging technologies while protecting shoppers from discriminatory pricing practices based on their personal information.
