PART IE+W+SGENERAL
Citation, commencement and revocationE+W+S
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Weighing Equipment (Beltweighers) Regulations 2001 and shall come into force on 28th September 2001.
(2) The Weighing Equipment (Beltweighers) Regulations 1983(1) are hereby revoked.
(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (2) and the following provisions of these Regulations,—
(a)the provisions of the Weighing Equipment (Beltweighers) Regulations 1983 shall continue to apply; and
(b)the following provisions of these Regulations shall not apply,
to any beltweigher to which those Regulations applied which was first passed as fit for use for trade before the date when these Regulations come into force.
InterpretationE+W+S
2.—(1) In these Regulations—
“the Act” means the Weights and Measures Act 1985;
“beltweigher” means weighing equipment of the belt conveyor type being an automatic weighing instrument for continuously weighing a bulk product on a conveyor belt by the action of gravity without systematic subdivision of the mass and without interrupting the movement of the conveyor belt;
“certificate of approval” means a certificate of approval of a pattern of weighing equipment granted or renewed by the Secretary of State under section 12 of the Act or any instrument having effect under paragraph 11(1) of Schedule 11 to the Act as if it were a certificate of approval so granted on 4th April 1979;
“maximum permissible error” in relation to a beltweigher means, except in paragraph (3), the maximum permissible error for automatic weighing in relation to a beltweigher of its Class as determined in accordance with clauses 2.2 to 2.2.3 of R 50–1; the Table in clause 2.2.1 is set out in the Schedule;
“minimum totalised load” means the quantity in units of mass below which a totalisation may be subject to excessive relative errors as determined in accordance with clause 2.3 of R 50–1;
“the stamp” means the prescribed stamp(2);
“weighing unit” means the part of a beltweigher providing information on the mass of the load to be measured.
(2) In these Regulations—
(a)“Class 0.5 beltweigher” means a beltweigher which is marked as such;
(b)“Class 1 beltweigher” means a beltweigher which is marked as such or as Class I; and
(c)“Class 2 beltweigher” means a beltweigher which is marked as such or as Class II,
on its descriptive plate or elsewhere on the instrument; and “Class” shall be construed accordingly.
(3) For the purposes of the marks referred to in paragraph (2), the Class of a beltweigher is the Class appropriate to its accuracy on initial verification ascertained in relation to maximum permissible errors in accordance with clause 2.2.1 of R 50–1.
(4) Unless the context otherwise requires, a reference to a numbered regulation or Schedule is a reference to the regulation or Schedule so numbered in these Regulations and a reference to a paragraph in a regulation is a reference to a paragraph in that regulation.
Recommendations of the International Organisation of Legal MetrologyE+W+S
3.—(1) In these Regulations “R 50–1” means the International Recommendation entitled ‘Continuous totalizing automatic weighing instruments (beltweighers) Part 1: Metrological and technical requirements – Tests'(3).
(2) In these Regulations, any expression which is not defined in these Regulations and is used both herein and in R 50–1 has the same meaning as in R 50–1.
ApplicationE+W+S
4.—(1) For the purposes of section 11(1) of the Act (use for trade of weighing or measuring equipment of prescribed classes),
(a)beltweighers to which the Weighing Equipment (Beltweighers) Regulations 1983(4) apply shall continue to be prescribed, and
(b)other beltweighers to which these Regulations apply shall be prescribed.
(2) These Regulations do not apply to beltweighers for use for trade which bear the mark of EEC initial verification; and in this paragraph the expression “mark of EEC initial verification” has the meaning assigned to it in regulation 13 of the Measuring Instruments (EEC Requirements) Regulations 1988(5).
(3) The Weights and Measures Regulations 1963(6) are hereby further amended in regulation 1(2) by the substitution for sub-paragraph (g) of the following sub-paragraph—
“(g)beltweighers to which the Weighing Equipment (Beltweighers) Regulations 1983(7) or the Weighing Equipment (Beltweighers) Regulations 2001(8) apply;”.
Purposes of use for tradeE+W+S
5. No person shall use a beltweigher for trade—
(a)except for the purpose of measuring quantities of material the values of which expressed in units of measurement of mass are not less than the value of the minimum totalised load;
(b)for a purpose other than a purpose specified in the certificate of approval relating to it;
(c)otherwise than in conformity with any mark placed on it in conformity with these Regulations; or
(d)in the case of a Class 2 beltweigher, for the purpose of weighing any material other than ballast, that is to say, any of the materials to which the expression “ballast” applies in Schedule 4 to the Act.