Weights and Measures (Jersey) Law: Proposed amendments to Orders

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A decision made 14 August 2013:

Decision Reference: MD-E-2013-0078
Decision Summary Title :	DS – Weights and Measures (Jersey) Law 1967 – Proposed Amendments to Orders		Date of Decision Summary:
Decision Summary Author:	Director of Trading Standards		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	Weights and Measures (Jersey) Law 1967 – Proposed Amendments to Orders		Date of Written Report:	24th July 2013
Written Report Author:	Director of Trading Standards		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Weights and Measures (Jersey) Law 1967 – Proposed Amendments to Orders
Decision(s): The Minister – (a) agreed that the Weights and Measures (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 1968 and the Weights and Measures (Measuring Instruments) (Liquid Fuel and Lubricants) (Jersey) Order 1968 should be amended to address the various issues highlighted in the appended report; and (b) authorised the Director of Trading Standards to submit the necessary instructions to the Law Draftsman.
Reason(s) for Decision: It is important that Jersey Weights and Measures legislation is reviewed periodically in light of changes made to United Kingdom (UK) Law as all equipment in use for trade in Jersey is manufactured to UK legal specifications. The proposed amendments will remove the risk of possible conflicts with UK Law.
Resource Implications: There are no financial or manpower implications as a result of this decision.
Action required: The Director of Trading Standards to provide appropriate drafting instructions to the Law Draftsman.
Signature:		Position:
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Weights and Measures (Jersey) Law: Proposed amendments to Orders

Report to Economic Development Minister

Weights and Measures (Jersey) Law 1967

Proposed Amendments to Weights and Measures Orders

Background

When the Weights and Measures Law was introduced in 1967 it was necessary to enact a number of associated Orders, some of which prescribe the detail of how a range of weighing and measuring equipment in use for trade should be tested, verified and stamped by inspectors. Statutory error allowances were included in the Orders but many of these do not cater for the metric system of measurement or the progressive change from mechanical weighing equipment to electronic and digital technology. Examples of equipment in frequent everyday use by traders which fall into this category are supermarket checkout scales and garage forecourt fuel dispensers.

Proposed Amendments

Weights and Measures (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 1968

This Order describes a range of different types and classes of weighing and measuring instruments in use for trade, for example, beam scales, counter machines, spring balances, steelyards, dead-weight machines to name several. In the Order there are frequent references to parts of mechanical weighing machines like knife edges and bearings which are rarely if ever found in day to day use by businesses. The use of electronic self-indicating metric weighing instruments is now widespread to the extent that the use of imperial scales is now limited to a very small number of traders. However, Schedule 2 to the General Provisions Order does not, for example, prescribe error allowances in the metric system. Also, the classes of weighing instruments such as ‘Steelyards’ and ‘Dead-Weight Machines’ are so outdated that they are no longer manufactured.

The United Kingdom (UK) now classifies weighing instruments in use for trade in line with European Union (EU) Directives on Non Automatic Weighing Instruments which ensures the harmonisation of laws of member states. The most recent UK legislation passed which regulates weighing instruments was the Non-Automatic Weighing Instruments Regulations 2000. It is proposed that the General Provisions Order is amended to consolidate all weighing instruments into one classification with appropriate metric error allowances in line with those prescribed in the UK Regulations.

Weights and Measures (Measuring Instruments) (Liquid Fuel and Lubricants) (Jersey) Order 1968

This Order ensures that measuring equipment used by traders for the retail sale of liquid fuel in Jersey meets recognised UK manufacturing standards as well as conformity with approval certificates issued by the National Measurement Office. Where references to quantity are made in the current Order they are expressed only in the imperial system of measurement. This includes Parts 1 and 2 of the Schedule which sets out the prescribed limits of error to be applied when first testing equipment with a view to passing as fit for use for trade as well as any subsequent random inspection.

All measuring equipment in use by fuel retailers in Jersey now dispenses liquid fuel in the metric system of measurement. References to quantities delivered should now be amended to be expressed in metric units. The prescribed limits of error should also be amended to be expressed in percentages of the quantity delivered in line with UK requirements.

Recommendation

Amendments to the above Orders are somewhat overdue. Drafting instructions can be provided at relatively short notice and it is expected that the drafting work required will be relatively minimal and classified as minor and routine, although this would need to be confirmed with the principal Law Draftsman.

It is recommended that the Minister authorises the Director of Trading Standards to instruct the Law Draftsman to produce an appropriate amending Order to be laid before the States in due course.

Director

Trading Standards

24th July 2013