Overview
These Regulations set out the requirements that must be met before regulated non- automatic weighing instruments can be placed on the GB market. The purpose of the legislation is to ensure the accuracy and performance of non-automatic weighing instruments to deliver confidence in measurement and transactions for businesses and consumers by requiring manufacturers to show how their instruments meet the ‘essential requirements’.
Background
These Regulations implemented Directive 2014/31/EU on non-automatic weighing instruments for the scope of the UK market. The EU Withdrawal Act 2018 preserves the Regulations and enables them to be amended so as to continue to function effectively now the UK has left the EU. Accordingly, the Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 20192 fix any deficiencies that arose from the UK leaving the EU and make specific provision for the UK market.
Specifically, these Regulations define a non-automatic weighing instrument as a weighing instrument that:
- serves to determine the mass of a body by using the action of gravity on that body and which may also serve to determine other mass-related magnitudes, quantities, parameters and characteristics; and
- requires the intervention of an operator during weighing.
The Regulations also distinguish between non-automatic weighing instruments intended to be used to perform one of the functions listed below (known as regulated non- automatic weighing instruments), and non-automatic weighing instruments used for any other purpose (known as non-regulated non-automatic weighing instruments):
- “the determination of mass for commercial transactions” - which deals with trading transactions where the goods are bought or sold by mass. The cost therefore is directly proportional to the mass of the product.
- “the determination of mass for the calculation of a toll, tariff, tax, bonus, penalty, remuneration, indemnity or similar type of payment” - this category of use not only includes situations where the payment is directly proportional to the mass, but also situations where the mass value determines the cost of the service .
- “the determination of mass for the application of laws or regulations or for an expert opinion given in court proceedings” - which covers the activities where an instrument is used by a person who is not an expert in metrology but is giving evidence based on weighing results.
- “the determination of mass in the practice of medicine for weighing patients for the purposes of monitoring, diagnosis and medical treatment” - which covers those activities where medical staff are responsible for the weighing of patients.
- “the determination of mass for making up medicines on prescription in a pharmacy and determination of mass in analyses carried out in medical and pharmaceutical laboratories” - where medical laboratories are laboratories that carry out analyses at the request of medical practitioners and pharmaceutical laboratories are quality control laboratories of manufacturers of medicinal products for human use.
- “the determination of price on the basis of mass for the purposes of direct sales to the public and the making up of pre-packages” - which covers the use of instruments with price calculation, in particular price-calculating retail scales, and scales used to make up pre-weighed non- predetermined quantities.
