The New Jersey Senate has approved a bill that requires printer and cartridge manufacturers to display how many pages their cartridges will print on product packaging.
New Jersey’s State House
NJ.com reported on the approval of the bill in the state Senate yesterday, which requires “printer and ink cartridge manufacturers [to] show costs” and “disclose how many pages their printers and cartridges can print” on packaging in stores across the state.
The bill, now awaiting State Governor Chris Christie’s approval, “aims to give [consumers] a heads up on how many pages” they can expect to print with cartridges, with 33 officials voting for and six against. The news site notes that the law “require[s] manufacturers of printers and cartridges mark their products with an estimate of how much the average cost would be to print 1,000 pages”, with the bill having “languished for nearly two years” after passing through the state assembly.
Any printer or cartridge’s yield would “have to be included on its packaging” or on a “conspicuously attached label or tag”, with companies violating the new legislation facing a $10,000 (€7,347) fine for their first offence and $20,000 (€14,695) for a second.
Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, sponsor of the bill, stated: “The amount of ink in these cartridges is so miniscule that it appears ink is worth more than champagne. For an ounce of ink – or less than an ounce of ink – you’re paying in some cases $50 (€36.73).
“This is a small industry that has found a way to sell something for a high price without people understanding anything about what it will do. Think about going to a gas station and not knowing how much you’re getting, and not knowing how many miles per gallon the car you’re driving will get.”