PREMIER RESEARCH LABS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA MINIMUM ADVERTISED PRICE POLICY

1. Purpose

 There are certain advertising practices that undermine the reputation, brand, goodwill, and premium image of Premier Research Labs, LP (“PRL”) products with PRL’s target consumer retail population and discourage its sellers from investing in PRL products and providing the best possible service and support to customers.  To protect the integrity of our brand, PRL is implementing this unilateral Premier Research Labs United States of America Minimum Advertised Price Policy (“Policy”), which applies to all authorized sellers (“Sellers”) of our Premier Research Lab^® branded products advertising to end user consumers in the United States.  This Policy is effective October 1, 2022 and supersedes all of PRL’s prior policies or representations regarding minimum advertised prices or minimum resale prices for the Covered Products (as defined below) applicable to Sellers.

2. Covered Products

This Policy applies to advertisements of PRL’s products listed on the Premier Research Labs MAP Schedule (“Covered Products”), the current version of which is available at Map Schedule.  The MAP Schedule will be made available to all Sellers and may be changed by PRL at any time in its discretion.  Sellers are responsible for reviewing the current MAP Schedule, but PRL will work to promptly notify Sellers when updates are made to it.

3. The Minimum Advertised Price

The “minimum advertised price” (“MAP”) is the lowest price at which the Covered Product may be advertised.  PRL is solely responsible for (1) establishing the MAP for each Covered Product and (2) communicating the Policy to all Sellers (including via directing any distributors to pass down the Policy to their resellers).  While Sellers remain free to advertise and sell all of PRL’s products (including the Covered Products) at any price, it is a violation of this Policy for a Seller to advertise any Covered Product at a price lower than the MAP.

4. Advertising and Advertisements

For purposes of this Policy, the terms “advertising” and “advertisement” include all promotional or pricing information of Covered Products displayed in any type of media, including, but not limited to:

The terms “advertise” and “advertisement” do not include:

• Signage displayed within a brick-and-mortar selling location; and
• Pricing information displayed at the Final Online Checkout Stage (which is when the Covered Product is put into a shopping cart that contains the customer’s name, shipping address, email address, and payment information of a transaction).  Please note that pricing information in the “shopping cart” or the Final Online Checkout Stage must be obscured technically so that it is not retrievable by shopping and pricing engines and not displayed on search page results within the Seller’s own website.

5. Policy Violations and Permissible Promotions

Advertisements that violate this Policy include, but are not limited to: 

1. Offering coupons, discounts, rebates, or other inducements that, when applied, result in an advertised price lower than the MAP, including through use of a storewide sale, category-wide sale, website-wide sale, promotional code, or other similar provision that can be applied to the Covered Products; 
2. Bundling Covered Products with other products or services (whether made by or provided by PRL or another entity) in a manner that implies below-MAP pricing for the bundled Covered Product(s);
3. Creating multipacks using Covered Products in a manner that implies below-MAP pricing for the individual Covered Product used in the multipack;
4. Strikeouts or strikethroughs of advertised pricing information, “see price in cart,” or other statements that suggest a lower price for a Covered Product may be found at the Final Online Checkout Stage; 
5. Permitting any third-party to alter the advertised price for any Covered Product; and
6. Direct or indirect attempts to circumvent this Policy.
7.  It is not a violation to advertise the following, notwithstanding the prior prohibitions in Section 5: 
8. Customer-Initiated Solicitations for Price: That a customer may “call for price,” “text for price,” or “email for price,” as long as no price is listed and no automated call, text message, or “bounce-back” email is used in response.
9. Free/Reduced Price Shipping: A free or reduced-price shipping advertisement as long as such offer applies to all or almost all other products offered by the Seller in the same product category.
10. Subscriptions: “Subscribe and Save,” “Auto-ship and Save,” “Repeat Delivery,” or other subscription or auto-replenishment loyalty discount programs which result in a Covered Product being advertised at a price lower than the MAP, provided that such programs do not advertise a discount of more than ten percent (10%) below the Covered Product’s MAP.  Promotion of a subscription service is allowed at any time.
11. Quantity Discounts: Advertisements of discounts triggered by reaching certain quantity levels of products (including at least one Covered Product) for a single proposed purchase, provided such multi-item discount, when pro-rated among the products included in the purchase, does not result in an advertised price for the Covered Product(s) more than ten percent (10%) below the Covered Product’s MAP.
12. First-Time Purchase Promotion: A coupon or coupon code that can be applied only to the first-time purchase of a Covered Product, provided that such coupon or coupon code does not provide a discount of more than twenty percent (20%) below the MAP.

6. This Policy Is Not an Agreement and Is Non-Negotiable

This Policy is not an agreement between PRL and any other entity.  We do not seek and will not accept any promise of compliance with this Policy from any Seller or other party, and each Seller must independently choose whether to comply with this Policy.  This Policy is not negotiable and will not be altered for any individual Seller.

7. MAP Holidays 

PRL may announce MAP holidays or promotions that are applicable to all Sellers, during which specific periods of time a Seller that advertises a Covered Product in compliance with the terms of the MAP holiday will not be considered to have violated this Policy.  PRL may send notices to Sellers for any such MAP holidays.

8. Noncompliance

PRL will take the following actions against any Seller that does not comply with this Policy:

First Violation: Written warning.  

Second Violation: Written warning and a 60 day shipping hold.  This means that we will revoke our acceptance of any pending orders, cancel any pending shipments to you, and not accept any new orders from you during this 60 day period.  

Third Violation: Termination of business relationship and revocation of “authorized” status.  We will revoke our acceptance of any pending orders and cancel any pending shipments to you.  The Seller will no longer be an “authorized” Seller of our products.  

PRL will enforce this Policy in our sole discretion and without notice.  Sellers have no right to enforce this Policy.

9. Policy Administration

PRL may update, revise, suspend, or otherwise modify this Policy at any time in our discretion, and any modifications will be made available to all Sellers.  

Please note that PRL’s employees or agents cannot modify, interpret, or grant any exceptions to this Policy; cannot solicit or obtain the agreement of any person or entity to comply with this Policy; and cannot otherwise discuss any aspect of this Policy with any Seller, including any Seller’s compliance with the terms.

Any questions about this Policy should be sent in writing to PRL’s MAP Policy Administrator at mappricng@prlabs.com.  PRL will not accept any other form of communication from Sellers regarding this Policy.