Statutory Instrument 1996 No. 2636

The Measuring Equipment (Measures of Length) (Amendment) Regulations 1996

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© Crown Copyright 1996

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1996 No. 2636

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

The Measuring Equipment (Measures of Length) (Amendment) Regulations 1996

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 11(1) and (4), 15(1) and (2), 86(1) and 94(1) of the Weights and Measures Act 1985^[1] and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement
    1.    These Regulations may be cited as the Measuring Equipment (Measures of Length) (Amendment) Regulations 1996 and shall come into force on 25th November 1996.

Amendment of the Measuring Equipment (Measures of Length) Regulations 1986
    2.—(1)  The Measuring Equipment (Measures of Length) Regulations 1986^[2] ("the principal Regulations") are hereby further amended in accordance with the following provisions of this regulation.

    (2)  After regulation 23 in Part IV of the principal Regulations there shall be added the following regulations—

"Statistical Sampling
    23A.    Where the measures of length submitted for testing are manufactured in series and the person submitting them produces to the inspector a written statement made by the manufacturer that those measures have already been adequately checked, the inspector shall, at the request of that person carry out on those measures a statistical check by attributes as defined in paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 to these Regulations in accordance with the provisions of that Schedule and shall either accept or reject those measures accordingly.


Measures of Length imported from another member State or an EEA State
    23B.—(1)  Subject to paragraph (4) below, in relation to measures of length imported into Great Britain from another member State or from an EEA State, an inspector shall not carry out any test in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Part of these Regulations if, together with the measures of length being imported, he is presented with the requisite documentation.

    (2)  In this regulation and in regulation 25(2) below—
(a) "requisite documentation" means—
(i) the test report of an approved body stating that the measures of length which are the subject of that report have been tested in accordance with the tests mentioned in this Part of these Regulations and stating which tests have been applied to those measures of length; and

(ii) the test results relating to those tests; and

(b) "EEA State" means a State which is a Contracting Party to the EEA Agreement other than the United Kingdom; and in this paragraph "the EEA Agreement" means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993.


    (3)  A body is an "approved body" for the purposes of this regulation if it is a body in a member State or in an EEA State which has the responsibility in that State for metrological control of measures of length or is a laboratory which has been accredited for the purposes of testing measures of length in a member State or an EEA State as being a body which conforms with the criteria set out in EN 45001^[3].

    (4)  Nothing in these Regulations shall prevent an inspector testing in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Part of these Regulations where he is not satisfied—
(a) as to the authenticity of the test report or the test results presented to him; or

(b) that those results in fact relate to the measures of length being imported." .





    (3)  For regulation 25 of the principal Regulations there shall be substituted the following regulation—

"Passing as fit for use for trade
    25.—(1)  Save in the case of measures of length imported from another member State or an EEA State, no measure of length shall be passed as fit for use for trade unless—
(a) on testing,—
(i) it falls within the prescribed limits of error;

(ii) an inspector is of the opinion that it is not constructed in a manner which facilitates fraudulent use and that it does not bear any decorations or designs which might cause confusion in use; and

(iii) it complies with all the appropriate requirements of these Regulations; or

(b) in the case of a measure of length which has not been tested, it forms part of a group of measures treated under regulation 23A above as having satisfied the test or tests therein mentioned.


    (2)  In the case of measures of length imported from another member State or an EEA State, no measure of length shall be passed as fit for use for trade unless—
(a) either—
(i) where the requisite documentation is presented in accordance with regulation 23B above, the test report recites and the test data confirm to the satisfaction of the inspector that on testing in the relevant State the measure falls within the prescribed limits of error;

(ii) in the case of a measure of length which has not been tested, it forms part of a group of measures treated under regulation 23A above as having satisfied the test or tests therein mentioned; or

(iii) it complies with all the relevant requirements of these Regulations; and

(b) the inspector is of the opinion that it is not constructed in a manner which facilitates fraudulent use and that it does not bear any decorations or designs which might cause confusion in use." .





    (4)  After the Schedule to the principal Regulations there shall be added the Schedule set out in the Schedule to these Regulations.

John M. Taylor

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,
Department of Trade and Industry

15th October 1996

[1] 1985 c. 72. Section 94(1) contains a definition of"prescribed". back

[2] S.I. 1986/1682, as amended by S.I.s 1986/2109 and 1994/1851. back

[3] EN 45001 is a European Standard which has the status of a British Standard; it is identical with BS 7501 (ISBN 0 580 17939 7),"General criteria for the operation of testing laboratories". back

Explanatory Note