Amendment to Weights and Measures Law.

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A decision made (16/08/2006) regarding Amendment to the Weights and Measures (Jersey) Law 1967.

Subject:	Amendment to the Weights and Measures (Jersey) Law 1967
Decision Reference:	MD-E-2006-0136		Exempt clause(s):
Type of Report: (oral or written)	Written		Person Giving Report (if oral):
Telephone or e-mail Meeting?			Report File ref:
Written report – Title	Amendment to the Weights and Measures (Jersey) Law 1967
Written report – Author (name and job title)	Trevor Le Roux, Director – Consumer Affairs
Decision(s): The Director, Consumer Affairs, is authorised to instruct the law draftsman to draft a short amendment to the Weights and Measures (Jersey) Law 1967 to effect repeal of Article 38 (2) for the reasons stated in the attached report. .
Reason(s) for decision: To repeal an outdated legal requirement which will remove the need for the States to approve some Ministerial Orders made under the Weights and Measures (Jersey) Law 1967. This change also actions one of the recommendations of the “red tape” review.
Action required: Trevor Le Roux to send instructions to the Law Draftsman.
Signature: Senator Philip Ozouf (Minister)		Date of Decision: 16 August 2006

Amendment to Weights and Measures Law.

Minister For Economic Development

Amendment to the Weights and Measures ( Jersey ) Law 1967

1. The Issue

1.1. The “red tape” review of legislation under the responsibility of the Economic Development Minister recommended the removal of Article 38(2) of the Weights and Measures (Jersey) Law 1967.

2. The Facts

2.1. Article 38 of the Weights and Measures (Jersey) Law 1967 is titled “General Provisions as to Orders”. Article 38(1) states “any power to make Orders conferred on the Minister by this Law shall be deemed to include a power to make different provision for different circumstances”

2.2. Article 38(2) of the Law states that no Order shall be made under any of the following provisions of this Law, that is to say-

(a) paragraphs (10) and (11) of Article 11;

(b) paragraphs (2) and (5) of Article 20;

(d) paragraph (3) of Article 32;

(e) paragraph (1) of Article 39,

unless a draft has been laid before and approved by the States.

2.3. The effect of Article 38(2) is to require the States to actually approve Orders and although such Orders are infrequent, the last Order to be produced in 2000 took up valuable debating time for what was a very minor legislative change.

2.4. The “red tape” review has rightly identified that Article 38(2) should be repealed to prevent States debating time being used for very minor legislative changes which can easily dealt with in the normal MInisterial Order making process.

3. Recommendation

3.1. It is recommended that the Minister authorises the Director, Consumer Affairs, to instruct the law draftsman to draft a short amendment to the Weights and Measures (Jersey) Law 1967 to effect repeal of Article 38 (2).

Trevor Le Roux

Director, Consumer Affairs & Trading Standards

Economic Development Department

9th August 2006.