Weights and Measures (Northern Ireland) Order 1981

Units of measurement, weights and measures lawful for use for tradeN.I.

6.—(1) No person shall—

(a)use for trade any unit of measurement which is not included in Schedule 2,

(b)use for trade, or have in his possession for use for trade, any linear, square, cubic or capacity measure which is not included in Schedule 1, or any weight which is not so included.

(2) Paragraph (1)( a) shall not apply to the prescribing of, or the dispensing of a prescription for, drugs.

(3) A person who contravenes—

(a)this Article, or

(b)any provision in Part VI of Schedule 1, or Part VI of Schedule 2,

shall be guilty of an offence, and any measure or weight used, or in any person's possession for use, in contravention of any of these provisions shall be liable to be forfeited.

(4) Subject to paragraph (5), the Department may by order amend Schedule 1 or 2—

(a)by adding to or removing from Schedule 1 any linear, square, cubic or capacity measure, or any weight,

(b)by adding to or removing from Schedule 2 any unit of measurement,

(c)by adding to, varying or removing from Part VI of Schedule 1 or Part VI of Schedule 2 any restriction on the cases or circumstances in which, or the conditions subject to which, a unit of measurement, measure or weight may be used for trade, or possessed for use for trade.

[F1(5) Without prejudice to paragraph (4)(c) an order under paragraph (4) shall not remove the pint from Part IV of Schedule 2.]

(6) An order under this Article may contain such transitional or other supplemental or incidental provisions as appear to the Department to be expedient.

[F1(7) This Article has effect subject to—

(a)paragraph (7A), and

(b)Articles 7 and 53.

(7A) Nothing in this Article precludes the use for tradeF2. . . of any supplementary indication; and for this purpose any indication of quantity ("the imperial indication") is a supplementary indication if—

(a)it is expressed in a unit of measurement other than a metric unit,

(b)it accompanies an indication of quantity expressed in a metric unit ("the metric indication") and is not itself authorised for use in the circumstances as a primary indication of quantity, and

(c)the metric indication is the more prominent, the imperial indication being, in particular, expressed in characters no larger than the metric indication.]

(8) In this Article “unit of measurement” means a unit of measurement of length, area, volume, capacity, mass or weight.

F1SR 1995/226