§ 398-c. Registration required; application; fees and issuance of
certificate of registration. 1. Registration required. On and after the
first day of November, nineteen hundred seventy-five, no person shall
operate, or cause to have operated, a motor vehicle repair shop, unless
such motor vehicle repair shop is registered in accordance with the
provisions of this article and unless such registration is currently
valid. The commissioner may request the attorney general to commence an
action to enjoin the operation of any motor vehicle repair shop in
violation of this subdivision. A violation of this subdivision shall be
heard and determined and shall be subject to penalties as provided in
section three hundred ninety-eight-i of this chapter.

2. Application. An application for a certificate of registration under
this section shall be filed with the commissioner, in such form and
detail as the commissioner shall prescribe, setting forth:

(a) the name and the residence address of the applicant; if an
individual, the name under which he intends to conduct business; if a
co-partnership, the name and residence address of each member thereof,
and the name under which the business is to be conducted; if a
corporation where stock is not sold to the public on a stock exchange or
over-the-counter market, the name of the corporation, the name and
residence address of each of the officers, directors and stockholders of
the corporation holding more than ten percent of the outstanding stock
and the name under which the business is to be conducted if different
from the name of the corporation; if a corporation whose stock is sold
to the public on a stock exchange or over-the-counter market, the name
and business address of the corporation, the name under which the
business is to be conducted if different from the corporate name and a
separate statement that the corporation is either registered in New York
or is authorized to do business in this state.

(a-1) appropriate certification or documentation from the municipality
where the repair shop is located that the facility is in compliance with
applicable zoning and planning regulations, fire regulations and
building codes. It shall be the responsibility of the applicant to
provide such documentation for the commissioner. The commissioner may
waive this requirement for applicants from municipalities without such
codes or regulations.

(b) the place or places, including the complete address or addresses,
where the business is to be conducted.

(c) on and after January first, nineteen hundred ninety-one, an
indication as to whether the applicant services motor vehicle
air-conditioning systems and, if so, whether the applicant has purchased
approved motor vehicle refrigerant recycling equipment or approved motor
vehicle refrigerant recapturing equipment in accordance with section
38-0107 of the environmental conservation law. Applicants who indicate
that they have purchased approved motor vehicle refrigerant recycling
equipment must submit along with their application either a
manufacturer's certificate issued upon purchase or an invoice with proof
of payment. All such documents shall contain the name and address of the
repair shop and manufacturer, the date purchased, and the serial numbers
of the units acquired.

(d) such further information as the commissioner may by rule
prescribe.

The commissioner may require the applicant to appear at such time and
place as may be designated by the commissioner for examination to enable
him to determine the accuracy of the facts set forth in the written
application, either for initial registration or renewal thereof. Where
the business is conducted under franchise, lease or other similar
arrangement, the commissioner, in his discretion, may require the
application to be submitted by the franchise holder, lessee or other
person actually responsible for conducting the business. Every
application under this section shall be affirmed as true by the
applicant.

3. Fees and issuance of certificate of registration.

(a) Every original application shall be accompanied by an application
fee of ten dollars, which shall in no event be refunded. If an
application is approved by the commissioner, upon payment by the
applicant of an additional fee of one hundred fifty dollars for each
place of business, the applicant shall be granted a certificate of
registration for each place of business, which certificate or
certificates shall be valid for a period of two years. The commissioner
may, however, in his discretion, issue such certificates of registration
on a staggered expiration basis, in which event the fees set forth
herein shall be prorated on a monthly basis. In the event a certificate
of registration is issued on a staggered expiration basis, it shall
expire on the date fixed by the commissioner. The biennial fee for
renewal of any certificate of registration issued pursuant to this
section shall be one hundred fifty dollars. The commissioner shall issue
a certificate of registration to each applicant pursuant to the
provisions of this article, which certificate shall be conspicuously
displayed in the place of business of the registrant for which such
registration is issued. In the case of loss, mutilation or destruction
of a certificate of registration, the commissioner shall upon
application issue a duplicate certificate thereof upon proof of the
facts.

(b) If a certificate of registration under this section shall be
issued in the names of two or more persons as partners and a change
occurs in the membership of such partnership, the certificate of
registration shall not expire thereupon so long as any one of the
persons named in such certificate is a member of the partnership or
carries on the business of the partnership as surviving member of the
partnership; provided, however, that when any such change occurs and the
certificate of registration does not expire, the partners or surviving
member after such change shall forthwith file with the commissioner (i)
a statement regarding the change in such form and giving such
information as the commissioner shall require or, where the change
involves the addition of one or more new partners, (ii) a new
application as provided in subdivision two of this section. Such new
certificate of registration shall expire on the expiration date of the
one replaced.

(c) If a certificate of registration under this section shall be
issued and, subsequent thereto, the business name of any such shop is
changed, or in the event that the owners of a business incorporate said
business with no change in the actual ownership and operation thereof,
such owner or owners thereof shall forthwith file with the commissioner
a statement regarding the change of name in such form and with such
information as the commissioner shall require.

(d) Fees assessed under this section shall be paid to the commissioner
for deposit to the general fund.

4. If an individual owner of a registered repair shop dies or is
adjudged mentally incompetent, his executor or administrator or his
committee may carry on the business by filing an amendment to the
application for registration. Every corporation whose stock is not sold
to the public on a stock exchange or over-the-counter market shall file
an amendment to its application for registration if there is any change
in its officers, stockholders who hold more than ten percent of the
outstanding shares, or directors. Every repair shop shall file an
amendment to its application for registration if it changes its
location. Every such amendment shall be filed within thirty days of the
event.