TREES; RETAIL TRADE;

Connecticut laws/regulations;

You asked for a summary of state law regulating the sale of firewood.

The law prohibits commercial dealers from selling firewood by weight or load and from delivering firewood by weight unless a licensed public weigher has weighed the wood. The weighing must be done on a tested and sealed stationary scale. By law, a “commercial dealer” is anyone who sells more than 25 cords or 65 tons of firewood in a year. The Department of Consumer Protection licenses public weighers.

Firewood sold by weight must have a delivery ticket stating (1) the delivery vehicle’s gross weight, (2) the net weight of the wood, (3) whether the wood is seasoned or green, (4) the price by weight, (5) the name and number of the licensed public weigher, (6) the name and address of the buyer and seller, and (7) the transaction date.

The law prohibits commercial dealers from delivering less than the amount stated on the ticket. It requires public weighers to weigh the truck before the firewood is loaded. It prohibits dealers from delivering more than one load at a time if the firewood is sold by weight.

The consumer protection commissioner has been authorized to adopt implementing regulations since 1980 but has not done so.

The law authorizes towns to appoint annually at least two firewood measurers. They must, when asked by an owner of firewood offered for sale, measure it and provide a signed certificate of its quantity. The law requires firewood to be sold by the standard cord containing 128 cubic feet of compactly piled wood. The law prohibits using the terms, “face cord,” “rack,” “pile,” “truckload,” or similar terms when advertising or offering firewood for sale (CGS § 43-27).

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