The Legal metrology Act – Today we are discussing about this Act. This was introduced in 2009 and came into force from 1st April 2011 to replace the Weights & Measures Act of 1976. The main agenda of the Act was to enforce the standards of Weight & Measures and to regulate Trade & Business with respect to the Goods sold or distributed by weight, measure, or number.
The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodity) rules 2011 pertains to all goods which are packed. The rules provide the declaration to be made for packaged commodities. The Act applies in measure to:
- Packers – Person or business which prepacks a commodity in bottle, wrapper, box, tin or otherwise in suitable units of sales, either wholesale or retail.
- Manufacturers – Manufacturing weights or measures, one or more parts required to manufacture weights or measure or assembling of products at the end which will be called as weights or measures either with their own mark or otherwise.
- Dealer – Person dealing in goods in relation to weights or measures, business of buying, selling, supplying, or distributing products for weights or measures either for cash or deferred payment or commission or any other valuable consideration. It also includes commission agents, manufacturers and importers dealing in weights or measures.
- Importer – The Individual Firm or any legal entity/company that imports goods from a foreign country.
- Repairer – The business which undertakes repairs of weights or measures including a person who adjusts, cleans, lubricates, or paints any weight or measure equipment or render service to ensure such weight or measures conform to the standard of the Act.
All the above categories are required to register under the said Act by filling requisite application and pay fees as per regulation 27 of the rule.
Further, a mandatory declaration needs to be made under the Act Regulation 6 of the rules.
The rules mandate declaration on every package intended to be commercialized. The declaration should contain details as below.
- Name & Address
- Common or Generic name of the commodity
- Net quantity in terms of unit of measurement of the commodity
- Manufactured or prepacked or imported
- Month and year of the commodity.
- Retail Sale price
- Size and dimension
- Penalties
Manufacturing of nonstandard weight or measure will attract penalty up to Rs 25,000/- and subsequent offences may be with imprisonment for the term extended with fine or both.
If there is an error in the net quantity of declaration in pre-packaged or importing commodity, the fine will not be less than Rs 10,000/- which may extend to Rs 1 lakh or imprisonment of 1 year or both.
Regulation 32 imposes penalty on the non-registered.
The offences can be compounded either before or after institution of prosecution on payment of prescribed sum, however, compounding is not allowed if the same or similar offence is committed earlier, within 3 years of the first offence.
Offences by companies: Companies are required to nominate a person who will be held responsible for the conduct of the company communication and legal metrology. If no person is nominated, then the person in charge of the operation shall be responsible. The company may be directed to publish the offence in newspaper at their own cost.
Appeals are allowed to be filed with higher authority within 60 days of the order.