Tenn. Code Ann. § 38-1-202

This is the official text of Tenn. Code Ann. § 38-1-202, part of Tennessee’s Code Ann — part of the compiled statutory law of Tennessee, published by the state as "Code Ann." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Holding period before transfer or alteration of purchased items

Official statutory text

(a) It is unlawful for any person or corporation engaging in the activity described in § 38-1-201 to sell, exchange, barter or remove from the place in which such business is conducted, or to change the form of any such items by remounting, melting, cutting up, or otherwise changing the form of any such items for a period of twenty (20) days from the date of purchase; provided, however, that the person or corporation may remove the items for the purpose of holding the items in a secure location, including a storage facility or bank vault, for the required twenty-day period. This section does not apply to persons or corporations engaged in the reclamation of precious metals through the reprocessing of used film or other similar materials that in their original form contain precious metals but were not intended to be items of jewelry, or become antiques or be marketed exclusively for the precious metals contained in the materials. (b) No person acting as a buyer or dealer under this section shall purchase any item covered by this section from a person under eighteen (18) years of age, nor accept any item covered by this section from anyone who appears intoxicated, nor from any person known to the person to be a thief, or to have been convicted of larceny, burglary or robbery, without first notifying a police officer. Any person acting as a buyer or dealer under this section shall exercise due care to comply with this section. (c) No person acting as a buyer or dealer under this section shall take any item covered by this section under a buy-sell agreement, when the article is known to the person to be stolen. Amended by 2014 Tenn. Acts, ch. 632,s 1, eff. 4/4/2014. Acts 1980, ch. 766, § 2; 1981, ch. 424, §§ 1, 2; T.C.A., § 38-607; Acts 1985, ch. 311, § 1; 1992, ch. 943, § 1; 2009, ch. 282, § 1; 2012, ch. 675, § 1.
(a) It is unlawful for any person or corporation engaging in the activity described in § 38-1-201 to sell, exchange, barter or remove from the place in which such business is conducted, or to change the form of any such items by remounting, melting, cutting up, or otherwise changing the form of any such items for a period of twenty (20) days from the date of purchase; provided, however, that the person or corporation may remove the items for the purpose of holding the items in a secure location, including a storage facility or bank vault, for the required twenty-day period. This section does not apply to persons or corporations engaged in the reclamation of precious metals through the reprocessing of used film or other similar materials that in their original form contain precious metals but were not intended to be items of jewelry, or become antiques or be marketed exclusively for the precious metals contained in the materials.
(b) No person acting as a buyer or dealer under this section shall purchase any item covered by this section from a person under eighteen (18) years of age, nor accept any item covered by this section from anyone who appears intoxicated, nor from any person known to the person to be a thief, or to have been convicted of larceny, burglary or robbery, without first notifying a police officer. Any person acting as a buyer or dealer under this section shall exercise due care to comply with this section.
(c) No person acting as a buyer or dealer under this section shall take any item covered by this section under a buy-sell agreement, when the article is known to the person to be stolen.
Amended by 2014 Tenn. Acts, ch. 632,s 1, eff. 4/4/2014.
Acts 1980, ch. 766, § 2; 1981, ch. 424, §§ 1, 2; T.C.A., § 38-607; Acts 1985, ch. 311, § 1; 1992, ch. 943, § 1; 2009, ch. 282, § 1; 2012, ch. 675, § 1.

Status: in_force

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.