- Arkansas AG Leslie Rutledge sent letters to online commerce platforms Amazon.com, Inc. (“Amazon”), eBay, Inc., and Walmart, Inc. notifying them that Arkansas’s anti-price-gouging law automatically went into effect on March 11, 2020, after Governor Asa Hutchinson’s declaration of a state of emergency relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The letters to Amazon, eBay, and Walmart, praise the companies for their proactive response in preventing price gouging and encourage the companies to take further action to stop bad actors from artificially raising prices on basic needs products during the public health crisis.
- According to the letters, the Arkansas anti-price-gouging law prohibits any person or business during an emergency from charging more than 10% above the pre-emergency price of goods and services. Violators could be subject to injunctive relief, restitution, attorneys’ fees and costs, civil penalties, and criminal sanctions.