By now, you’ve no doubt heard about the Credit Card Act of 2009, which President Obama signed into law last year. While the Act pertains primarily to credit cards, it also brings with it new rules surrounding gift cards.

Slated to take effect on August 22nd, the new rules pertain to two types of charges associated with gift cards—dormancy fees and service fees—as well as to expiration dates. Under the Act, dormancy fees cannot be charged until after a gift card has remained unused for one year after it was issued. Additionally, only one dormancy fee per month, per card can be imposed on gift card holders. The old rule was significantly more lenient: It allowed an unlimited number of dormancy fees to be charged on each card, starting a mere six months after the card had been issued.

The Act also prohibits merchants and restaurant operators from collecting various other gift card fees. These include transaction (gift card purchasing) fees, maintenance fees and fees for maintaining a balance on a long-activated, but still dormant, card.

As for expiration dates, no gift card issued on or after August 22 can expire less than five years after it was first issued or last reloaded. While the summer seems a long time off, it’s best to be proactive by removing from circulation and re-printing all gift cards that currently have an expiration date of less than five years from the issue date. Failing to comply with this new law puts you at risk of another type of “gift”—fines for non-compliance. For help in sorting things out and printing new gift cards in time for the deadline, contact pcAmerica.