Weights and Measures &c. Act 1976

2 Units of measurement lawful for use for trade

(1) In the 1963 Act after section 9 there are inserted the following sections—

“9A Units of measurement lawful for use for trade.

(1) No person shall—

(a) use for trade any unit of measurement which is not included in Schedule 1A to this Act,

(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 3 to this Act, or any weight which is not so included,

(2) A person who contravenes—

(a) this section, or

(b) any provision in Part VI of Schedule 1A, or Part VI of Schedule 3, to this Act,

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

(3) Subject to subsection (4) below the Secretary of State may from time to time by order amend Schedule 1A or 3 to this Act—

(a) by adding to or removing from Schedule 1A any unit of measurement,

(b) by adding to or removing from Schedule 3 any linear, square, cubic or capacity measure, or any weight,

(c) by adding to, varying or removing from Part VI of Schedule 1A or Part VI of Schedule 3 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.

(4) An order under subsection (3) above shall not remove from Schedule 1A—

(a) in Part I the mile, foot or inch, or

(b) in Part IV the gallon or pint,

but this subsection is without prejudice to the power under paragraph (c) of the said subsection (3) to add, vary or remove 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.

(5) An order under this section may contain such transitional or other supplemental or incidental provisions as appear to the Secretary of State expedient.

(6) No order under section 8(2) of this Act shall amend Schedule 1A to this Act.

(7) This section has effect subject to sections 9B, 60 and 62(1) of this Act.

(8) In this section " unit of measurement" means a unit of measurement of length, area, volume, capacity, mass or weight.

9B Dual marking and conversion charts.

(1) The Secretary of State may make regulations—

(a) requiring or authorising a person who uses a metric unit for trade to afford, for explanatory purposes, information giving the equivalent, in the imperial system, of the relevant quantity in the metric system, and

(b) specifying the manner in which the information is to be given, and in particular specifying the cases in which any obligation to give information in metric units is to be extended to include the same information in imperial units.

(2) The Secretary of State may make regulations requiring or authorising the display on premises where metric units are used for trade of conversion tables or other material for converting metric units into imperial units.

(3) Regulations under this section—

(a) may prescribe the form and manner in which any information or other material is to be given or displayed,

(b) may prescribe appropriate conversion factors by reference to which, in prescribed cases or circumstances, an amount expressed in imperial units is to be treated as equivalent to a given amount expressed in metric units,

(c) may prescribe the persons to whom, and the cases and circumstances in which, the regulations apply, and may make different provision for different persons, cases or circumstances,

(d) may contain such consequential, incidental or supplementary provisions as appear to the Secretary of State to be expedient.

(4) A person contravening regulations made under this section shall be guilty of an offence.

(5) In this section " unit" in the expressions " metric unit " and " imperial unit" means any unit of measurement of length, area, volume, capacity, mass or weight.

(6) Regulations under this section imposing obligations apply whether or not the relevant imperial unit may lawfully be used for trade, and regulations authorising, but not requiring, anything to be done authorise it to be done notwithstanding that the relevant imperial unit may not be lawfully used for trade, but do not in any other respect authorise what is unlawful.”

(2) In the 1963 Act—

(a) after Schedule 1 there are inserted, as Schedule 1A, the provisions set out in Schedule 1 to this Act, and

(b) for Schedule 3 (measures and weights lawful for use for trade) there are substituted the provisions set out in Schedule 2 to this Act.

(3) In the 1963 Act—

(a) in section 10(7) (application to drugs) for the words " Subsection (1)(a) of this section " there are substituted the words " Section 9A(1)(a) ",

(b) in section 52(1) (punishment for offences) for the words "sections 10(5)" there are substituted the words " sections 9A(2), 9B, 10(5) ",

(c) in the said section 52(1) for the words ' £20' there are substituted the words ' £50', and the amendment of that subsection in Schedule 3 to the Criminal Justice Act 1967 (which is superseded by this paragraph) shall cease to have effect,

(d) in section 54(2) (Parliamentary control of orders and consultation as respects proposed orders) for the words " sections 10(9), 10(10) " there are substituted the words " sections 1, 9A ".

(4) In the said section 54 of the 1963 Act after subsection (2) there is inserted the following subsection—

“(2A) In the case of an order under section 9A(3) of this Act which relates to imperial units, measures or weights the Secretary of State in acting under subsection (2) of this section shall have particular regard to the need to consult, and to consider representations from, organisations representative of the interests of consumers.”

(5) In regulation 5(1) of the [S.I. 1975/1173.] Measuring Instruments (EEC Requirements) Regulations 1975 for the words "Section 10(1)(b)" there are substituted the words " Section 9A(1)(b) ".