Legal Metrology: 2017 Amendment

Legal metrology is a name given to weights and measurements which are required to be used by manufacturers and sellers of products.  There are certain labeling requirements that are to be followed by manufacturers and sellers of pre- packaged goods.

The Legal Metrology Act 2009 here in after mentioned as the “Act” has been passed by the Parliament  to regulate the trade and commerce in relation to weights , measures and labeling of  goods. The main reason behind enacting this law was to protect the consumers from mal practices and fraudulent techniques used by manufacturers, dealers, importers etc.

The act specifies the basic weights and measures as well as the standard weights and measures which must be used by the manufacturers and dealers. The act specifies standard basic units of weights and measures such as, length shall be the meter, mass shall be the kilogram, time shall be the second.  It further goes on to state that any standard which is specified by any custom and which is not recognized by this act shall not be used

The act provides for appointment of legal metrology officers, Directors, Controllers. The legal metrology officer has the power to search any premises and seize any weights and measures which are being used contrary to the prescribed law.  If it is found that there is a use of non-standard weight or measure then such person shall be punished with a fine of Rs 25000 and a subsequent offence on the same grounds shall lead to imprisonment. Similarly Penalties have been specified for use of non-verified standards, non-registration of weights by importers, unapproved models and for giving false information

Manufacturer, repairer, dealer of weights are required to maintain a register and such register shall be inspected by the legal metrology officer at any point of time.  The prepackaged goods should contain declarations such as name of manufacturer, net quantity, and best before use date as well as the date of manufacture. Any person who wants to manufacture, repair or undertake sale of weight or measure shall get a license issued by the Controller to do so. Every importer of weights shall do so only after registering with the Director.  Every person should seek the approval of model of such weight or measure in such manner, on payment of such fee and from the prescribed authority.

The act prescribes for the verification and stamping of weight measures. All weights and measures shall be verified and stamped by qualified Government officials at Test centers set up the Government.

The ministry of Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution have issued the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 by way of notification. All prepackaged products shall make declarations on the principal display panel .The rules have mentioned the font size of the wordings displayed on the principal display panel.  Declarations with regard to dimensions and weight of goods as well as the container carrying the goods have to be made.

The rules further goes on to specify the maximum permissible error for a particular quantity , for e.g. if the declared quantity is 50 g or ml then the maximum permissible error is 9 % of the declared quantity. The quantity in which any prepackaged good must be sold has also been prescribed for e.g.  Rice shall be sold in the quantities of 100g, 200g, 500 g, 1kg, 2 kg, and 5 kg and thereafter in multiples of 5 kg.

The penalty for contravening the rules is Rs 4000. Where no penalty has been mentioned for the contravention of any specific rule or any specific provision in the act the penalty is Rs 2000.

Amendments to the above rules has been brought in through the The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Amendment Rules, 2017

1. The definition of the terms consumer and institutional consumers have been inserted. An institutional consumer is an institution which buys goods which are not for resale purposes.
2. The term e –commerce has been defined as buying and selling of goods and services including digital products over digital and electronic network. The Term marketplace based model of e-commerce means providing of an information technology platform by an ecommerce entity on a digital and electronic network to act as a facilitator between buyer and seller.
3. All regulation set forth for manufacturers and dealers shall apply to e commerce entity in the same manner . In a market place ecommerce model the correctness of declarations shall lie on the manufacturer or the seller and not the ecommerce entity.  Although the correctness  of declaring  shall lie on the seller , any unauthorized sale of goods , any contraband  or any goods if found to be sold not in accordance with any law prescribed then it shall be the responsibility of the ecommerce operator to expeditiously remove or disable access of the seller . The responsibility of the correctness of declarations shall lie on the e commerce entity itself if it initiates the transmission, selects the receiver or modifies the contents of the information.
4. The amendments prescribe for Increased font size for “best before”, “date of manufacturing”, “name of producer”, etc. to enable users to read them easily before consumption. The maximum retail price shall be a price which is all-inclusive of taxes.
5. The information regarding country of origin, name and address of the manufacturer, place of assembly is required to be mentioned on the labels of imported goods.
6. The following shall be labeled on the goods by the manufacturer (a) Barcode or GTIN or QR Code; (b) ‘e-code’ for net quantity assurance of the commodity and other required declarations, after obtaining the same in the manner as specified by the Central Government; (c) logos of Government schemes, such as Swatch Bharat Mission, where such use is authorized by the Central Government. All the new rules formed are to be effective from the 1st of January 2018.

Hence, it can be concluded by stating that the Legal Metrology Act 2009 as well as the recent amendments to the rules has given a layer of protection to consumers from the manufacturer’s use of mal practice to make unlawful gains. The recent amendment shows that with the advent of various methods of trade and commerce, the law intends to protect all from the evils of these new methods.