Selling a catalytic converter in Rhode Island

Who may sell a detached converter

The license belongs to the buyer, and it is a real one. No person, including a pawnbroker, consignment shop, salvage yard operator, or second-hand dealer, may engage in the business of buying or receiving for resale gold, silver, platinum group metals, precious stones, or any articles containing those items, including catalytic converters, from the general public without first obtaining a license from the attorney general, and the attorney general may not issue a license to anyone who has not registered a permanent place of business in the state (§ 6-11.1-1(a)). A catalytic converter is defined in that chapter as an air pollution abatement device that removes pollutants from motor vehicle exhaust, either by oxidizing them into carbon dioxide and water or reducing them to nitrogen (§ 6-11.1-1(d)).

Licensing is investigated rather than merely filed. The application is in writing, under oath, on the attorney general's form, naming the applicant and its partners, officers, directors, or principal owners and the street address where the business will be conducted (§ 6-11.1-2(a)), after which the attorney general investigates the facts, may request a National Crime Information Center record search, and may initiate a nationwide fingerprint-based criminal records check on renewal or on opening a new branch (§ 6-11.1-2(b)). The initial investigation fee is fifty dollars with fifty dollars annually and another fifty dollars a year for each branch, and licenses are not assignable or transferable (§ 6-11.1-2(c)).

The seller needs identity and a sworn account of provenance, not a license. Every licensee requires positive proof of identification with photograph, date of birth, and current address of every seller, and requires the seller to sign a statement on a form the attorney general approves stating that the seller is the legal owner or the owner's authorized agent and when, where, or in what manner the property was obtained (§ 6-11.1-3(a)). A minor seller has to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian (§ 6-11.1-3(b)). Separately, anyone buying regulated metals from the general public for resale or recycling also needs a license from the department of attorney general under the regulated metals chapter (§ 6-11.2-3(a)).

What the buyer must record

The general record is a report form issued by or under the direction of the attorney general, hand printed legibly or typed, holding a comprehensive record of all transactions concerning precious metals including catalytic converters (§ 6-11.1-4(a)). It carries the date and hour of the transaction; the seller's name, address, telephone number, and date of birth; a photocopy or digital image of the seller's photo identification; the seller's signature; and a complete and accurate description of the property, including any serial numbers or other identifying marks or symbols (§ 6-11.1-4(a)).

Converters add the donor vehicle. For any transacted catalytic converter the record includes either the vehicle registration or the vehicle identification number for the vehicle it was removed from, together with the license plate number, state of issue, make, and model of the vehicle used to bring the property to the licensee (§ 6-11.1-4(b)). That requirement does not apply to business-to-business transactions, meaning a purchase from a person or entity in the business of generating precious metals from its normal operation or duly engaged in the business of purchasing, selling, bartering, or dealing in automotive salvage, precious metals, or secondhand articles (§ 6-11.1-4(e)).

Reporting is weekly and retention is a year. Every licensee delivers or mails, weekly, to the chief of police of the city or town where the business is located, and electronically submits to the attorney general in the manner the attorney general specifies, all report forms from the preceding seven day period (§ 6-11.1-4(c)). A copy of the report form is retained for one year from the date of sale, made available for inspection by any law enforcement agency that asks, and a licensee may not release a supplier's information without consent except in response to a law enforcement request (§ 6-11.1-4(d)). Prices per ounce currently being paid have to be posted in full sight of the prospective seller, and the metal weighed in full sight as well (§ 6-11.1-3(c)). Under the regulated metals chapter a separate record runs for two years (§ 6-11.2-7(b), (d)).

How you are paid

Rhode Island does not restrict the method. Chapter 6-11.1 names no payment rule for precious metals or converters at all, and the regulated metals chapter says plainly that payment in full for all material purchased under it may be made by check, wire transfer, cash, or any other legal means (§ 6-11.2-6). That chapter reaches a converter even though it never names one, because regulated metals property there means all ferrous and nonferrous metals, including copper, copper alloy, bronze, and aluminum, excluding only aluminum beverage containers (§ 6-11.2-2(d)). There is no ceiling, no payee restriction, and no mailing requirement.

What Rhode Island does impose is a long hold on the metal. All licensees retain in their possession, in an unaltered condition, for fourteen days, all precious metals or articles made from or containing a precious metal including catalytic converters, with an exception only for items of bullion such as coins, bars, and medallions that carry no serial numbers or other identifying marks (§ 6-11.1-5(a)). The fourteen days commence with the date the report of the acquisition was delivered to or received by the chief of police or the attorney general, whichever is later, so the weekly reporting cycle effectively sets when the clock starts (§ 6-11.1-5(a)).

A police notice can extend it. Where the chief of police has probable cause that a precious metal article has been stolen, the chief may give written notice to the licensee to retain it for an additional fifteen days, and the licensee holds it for that period unless the notice is recalled in writing within it (§ 6-11.1-5(a)). Within those fifteen days the chief designates in writing an officer to secure the property, and the licensee delivers it on display of that written designation (§ 6-11.1-5(a)). The regulated metals chapter separately imposes a three day hold and an immediate police notification for a list of brass, bronze, copper, cast iron, stainless steel, and wrought iron items such as statues, weathervanes, downspouts, handrails, decorative fencing, cemetery markers, and beer kegs, which does not name converters (§ 6-11.2-8(a), (b)).

Penalties

The grading depends on value and on which chapter is broken. Every person who violates chapter 6-11.1 is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both, and where the value of the property in the offending transaction exceeds five hundred dollars the fine rises to not more than two thousand dollars or imprisonment for not more than three years, or both (§ 6-11.1-7(a), (b)). Under the regulated metals chapter the base penalty is the same misdemeanor, with a fine of not more than one thousand dollars where the value exceeds two hundred fifty dollars (§ 6-11.2-11(a), (b)).

The license is the sharper consequence. The attorney general may suspend the license of any person required to be licensed under either chapter as a result of violations leading to penalties under it (§ 6-11.1-7(c), § 6-11.2-11(c)). A licensee convicted in any state or federal court of a felony charge of forgery, embezzlement, obtaining money under false pretenses, bribery, larceny, extortion, conspiracy to defraud, receiving stolen goods, burglary, breaking and entering, any similar offense, or tax evasion associated with the licensed business forfeits the license, with a hearing available on request, and no licensee may employ or engage anyone with such a record while trading in precious metals (§ 6-11.1-13).

Private parties have their own remedy. Any person damaged or injured by a licensee's failure to comply with chapter 6-11.1 may recover actual damages, and the court in its discretion may also award punitive damages, the costs of suit, and reasonable attorneys' fees to a prevailing plaintiff (§ 6-11.1-6). The regulated metals chapter gives an injured person the actual value of the property involved in the transaction instead (§ 6-11.2-10), and it does not preempt any ordinance or regulation a town or city adopts under chapter 5-21 (§ 6-11.2-17).

What this means when you sell to us

Bring photo identification showing your date of birth and current address, because Rhode Island requires positive proof of identity before we can buy (§ 6-11.1-3(a)). Bring the registration or the vehicle identification number for the vehicle the converter came off, which goes into the record for every converter unless you are a business in the salvage or precious metals trade (§ 6-11.1-4(b), (e)). You sign a statement, on the attorney general's form, that you own the converters or are the owner's authorized agent, and saying when, where, or how you obtained them (§ 6-11.1-3(a)). Cash is allowed, with no state ceiling on it, because the regulated metals chapter permits any legal means of payment for metals of the kind a converter contains (§ 6-11.2-2(d), § 6-11.2-6). Each unit then stays unaltered in our yard for fourteen days, counted from when the police or the attorney general have our report of the purchase (§ 6-11.1-5(a)).