The Non-automatic Weighing Instruments (EEC Requirements) Regulations 1995

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the following meanings—

“the 1981 Order” means the Weights and Measures (Northern Ireland) Order 1981(1);

“the 1985 Act” means the Weights and Measures Act 1985;

“approved body” means—

(i)

a body which is designated by the Secretary of State under regulation 9(1) for the purpose of carrying out one or more of the tasks referred to in Article 8 of the Directive; or

(ii)

a body which is designated for that purpose by another member State, and whose name is notified to the Commission and the member States under Article 9 of the Directive;

“approved quality system” means a quality system approved under regulation 13 or under a corresponding provision of the law of another member State;

“approved type” means a type in respect of which an EC type-approval certificate is in force;

“authorised person” means an inspector, or some other person employed by a local weights and measures authority, who is authorised by the chief inspector of weights and measures of that authority to exercise functions under these Regulations in its area;

“authorised representative”, in relation to a manufacturer, means his authorised representative established in the Community;

“CE marking” has the meaning assigned to it in regulation 18(5) and, where the context so permits, references, in these Regulations to the CE marking include references to the EC mark of conformity affixed under the Non-automatic Weighing Instruments (EEC Requirements) Regulations 1992 and to the CE marking affixed under provisions of the law of another member State corresponding to these Regulations;

“the Commission” means the Commission of the European Communities;

“the Community” means the European Community and the EEA States;

“design documentation” means the documentation referred to in Annex III of the Directive which is set out in Schedule 1;

“the Directive” means Council Directive 90/384/EEC of 20th June 1990 on the harmonisation of the laws of the member States relating to non-automatic weighing instruments(2) as amended by Council Directive 93/68/EEC(3);

“disqualification sticker” means—

(i)

a sticker of which the design is published in the United Kingdom by the Secretary of State; or

(ii)

a sticker, symbol or other device of which the design is approved in another member State by the competent authority,

and which indicates that an instrument to which it is affixed does not satisfy the requirements of regulation 5 or of corresponding provisions under the law of another member State;

“EC declaration of type conformity” means the declaration of type conformity referred to in regulation 13(7)

“EC surveillance” means the procedure whereby an approved body ensures that a manufacturer who makes an EC declaration of type conformity in respect of instruments manufactured by him properly fulfils the obligations arising out of the approved quality system specified in paragraph 2 of Annex II of the Directive;

“EC type-approval certificate” means a certificate issued by the Secretary of State under regulation 10 or by an approved body designated by another member State, as the case may be;

“EC type-examination” means the procedure whereby the Secretary of State verifies and certifies that a type conforms with the provisions of the Directive which apply to it;

“EC unit verification” means the procedure whereby the manufacturer or his authorised representative ensures and declares that an instrument generally intended for a specific application, in respect of which a certificate referred to in paragraph 4.2 of Annex II of the Directive has been issued (that is to say, in the case of an instrument subject to these Regulations, in accordance with regulation 12(4) under which the Secretary of State carries out examinations and tests) conforms with the requirements of the Directive which apply to it;

“EC verification” means the procedure whereby the manufacturer or his authorised representative ensures and declares in accordance with paragraph 3 of Annex II of the Directive that an instrument—

(i)

has been checked in accordance with paragraph 3.3 (that is to say, in the case of an instrument subject to these Regulations, in accordance with regulation 11(4) under which the approved body carries out examinations and tests)

(ii)

is, where appropriate, in conformity with the type described in the EC type-approval certificate; and

(iii)

satisfies the requirements of the Directive which apply to it;

“EEA State” means a Contracting Party to the EEA Agreement and in this definition “the EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993;

“essential requirements” means the requirements in Annex I of the Directive which is set out in Schedule 2;

“harmonised standard” means a technical specification adopted by one or both of the European Committee for Standardisation and European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation upon a remit from the Commission in accordance with Council Directive 83/189/EEC of 28th March 1983 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations(4);

“identification number” means the number assigned by the Commission to the Secretary of State or to the approved body in question, as the case may be; and, where the context so permits, references in these Regulations to the identification number include references to an identification symbol so assigned before these Regulations come into force;

“inscription” means, as the case may require, an inscription referred to in regulation 18(3)(c) or (d) “instrument” means a non-automatic weighing instrument (including ancillary equipment) which—

(i)

requires the intervention of an operator during weighing, and

(ii)

serves to determine the mass or weight of any thing by using the action of gravity on that thing (whether or not it may also determine related matters such as price, quantity or magnitude on the basis of mass or weight);

“load receptor” means a part of an instrument on which loads are placed for the purpose of their being weighed;

“member State” means a member State of the European Community or an EEA State;

“quality system” means all the elements, requirements and provisions adopted by the manufacturer to ensure conformity of instruments with the approved type and the requirements of the Directive which apply to them and includes, in particular—

(i)

the quality objectives and the organisational structure, responsibilities and powers of the managerial staff with regard to product quality,

(ii)

the manufacturing process, the quality control and assurance techniques and the systematic measures that will be used during manufacture,

(iii)

the examinations and tests that will be carried out before, during and after manufacture and the frequency with which they will be carried out, and

(iv)

the means to monitor the achievement of the required product quality and the effective operation of the quality system;

“relevant national standard” means a standard which is applicable to the instrument in question and of which the reference number is published—

(i)

in the United Kingdom, by the Secretary of State in such manner as he considers appropriate, or

(ii)

in another member State, by the competent authority,

and which corresponds to a harmonised standard the reference number of which is published in the Official Journal of the European Communities;

“re-qualification sticker” means a sticker of which the design is published by the Secretary of State and which indicates that an instrument to which it is affixed (being an instrument to which a disqualification sticker has previously been affixed) satisfies the requirements of regulation 5;

“Schedule 3 application”, in relation to an instrument, means an application described in Schedule 3;

“sticker”, except in the definitions of “disqualification sticker” and “re-qualification sticker”, means a green sticker measuring at least 12.5mm by 12.5 mm square bearing a capital letter “M” printed in black and referred to in paragraph 1 of Annex IV of the Directive; and

“type” has the meaning given by regulation 10(1)

and other expressions used in these Regulations have the same meanings as in the 1985 Act or, in Northern Ireland, the 1981 Order.

(2) In these Regulations—

(a) “supply” means supply, whether as principal or agent for another, and includes supply by way of sale, supply under a hire-purchase agreement, conditional sale agreement or credit-sale agreement or supply under an agreement for the hiring of goods;

(b) in references to the supply of an instrument, where a person (“the ostensible supplier”) supplies the instrument to another person (“the customer”) under any such agreement and the ostensible supplier—

(i) carries on the business of financing the provision of goods for others by means of such agreements; and

(ii) in the course of that business acquires his interest in the goods supplied to the customer as a means of financing the provision of them for the customer by a further person (“the effective supplier”),

the effective supplier and not the ostensible supplier shall be treated as supplying the instrument to the customer;

• and in the this paragraph “conditional sale agreement”, “credit-sale agreement” and “hire-purchase agreement” have the same meanings as in the Consumer Credit Act 1974(5).

(3) In these Regulations, references to instruments of the a numbered Class shall be construed in accordance with paragraph 2 of Annex I of the Directive which is set out in Schedule 2.

(4) For the purposes of these Regulations, the expressions “maximum capacity”, “minimum capacity” and “weighing range” shall be construed in accordance with the terminology of the International Organisation for Legal Metrology(6).

(5) The abbreviations of, and symbols for, units of measurement used in these Regulations refer to the relevant units as follows—

degrees Celsius	°C
gram	g
kilogram	kg
milligram	mg
millimetre	mm
pound	lb.

(6) Unless the context otherwise requires, any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation, Part or Schedule is a reference to the regulation, Part or Schedule so numbered in these Regulations.

(1)

S.I. 1981/231 (N.I. 10) and see S.I. 1982/846 (N.I. 11).

(2)

OJ No. L189, 20.7.90, p.1 as corrected by the corrigendum published in OJ No. L258, 22.9.90, p.35.

(3)

OJ No. L220, 30.8.93, p.1.

(4)

OJ No. L109, 26.4.83, p.8.

(5)

1974 c. 39.

(6)

See “Nonautomatic weighing instruments Part 1: Metrological and technical requirements-Tests” OIML R 76 1, Edition 1992 (E) published by the International Organisation for Legal Metrology.