A new Maryland law aimed at preventing grocery stores and food delivery services from using consumers’ personal information to charge them higher individualized prices will take effect Thursday, October 1.
The Protection From Predatory Pricing Act, passed as House Bill 895 during the 2026 Maryland General Assembly session and signed into law by Governor Wes Moore on April 28, regulates how certain food retailers and third-party food delivery services can use personal data when setting prices.
Under the new law, covered food retailers and third-party food delivery service providers may not use “dynamic pricing” to set a higher price for certain food for a specific consumer. The law defines dynamic pricing as offering or setting a personalized price for a good or service based on an individual consumer’s personal data, regardless of whether the seller collected or purchased that information.
The law also prohibits covered businesses from using personal data collected through certain technological methods to set higher prices for an individual consumer or group of consumers. Personal data under Maryland law generally includes information that is linked or can reasonably be linked to an identified or identifiable consumer.
The restrictions apply to food retailers operating establishments of at least 15,000 square feet that sell food exempt from Maryland sales and use tax, as well as third-party services that facilitate delivery of those foods.
The law does not prohibit all differences or changes in pricing. Exceptions include promotional offers, loyalty program benefits and temporary discounts; price differences attributable to objective costs such as shipping or location-based taxes; differences related to supply, demand or availability in different geographic areas; subscription-based pricing; certain loyalty, membership and rewards programs; prices offered when consumers consent to providing information in exchange for the price; corrections of pricing errors; and price resets following system or network outages.
The law additionally prohibits covered food retailers and delivery providers from using information identifying a legally protected characteristic in a way that results in a consumer being denied an accommodation, advantage or privilege offered to others.
A separate provision requires other merchants that use dynamic pricing or personal data to set consumer prices to clearly disclose that practice when displaying the affected price. The required disclosure states, “This price was set by an algorithm or by using your personal data.”
Violations are treated as unfair, abusive or deceptive trade practices under Maryland’s Consumer Protection Act. Before initiating an enforcement action for the new pricing provisions, the state’s Consumer Protection Division must provide the alleged violator with notice and 45 days to correct the violation. The law specifically excludes violations of these pricing provisions from the Consumer Protection Act’s private right of action and criminal penalty provisions.
The legislation also contains protections for employees of covered food retailers, prohibiting retailers from implementing administrative, operational or organizational changes that diminish rights or benefits guaranteed under an existing collective bargaining agreement or memorandum of understanding unless the change is negotiated and mutually agreed upon with the employees’ exclusive representative.
The Protection From Predatory Pricing Act takes effect October 1, 2026.
