The Measuring Instruments (Cold-water Meters) Regulations 2006

PART I PRELIMINARY

Citation and commencement

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Measuring Instruments (Cold-water Meters) Regulations 2006.

(2) This regulation, regulations 2, 7, 9 and 10 and Part 1 of Schedule 2 shall come into force on 30th May 2006.

(3) The remaining regulations shall come into force on 30th October 2006.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“authorised representative” means a person who is established in a member State and is authorised by a manufacturer, in writing, to act on his behalf;

“CE marking” means the CE marking referred to in regulation 12;

“cold water” means potable water in the temperature range from 0.1°C to and including 30°C;

“cold-water meter” means equipment designed to measure, memorise and display the volume at metering conditions of cold water passing through the measurement transducer;

“the Commission” means the European Commission;

“compliance notice” means a notice served in accordance with regulation 18(2);

“conformity assessment procedure” means any procedure referred to in regulation 6;

“the Directive” means Directive 2004/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31st March 2004 on measuring instruments(1);

“disqualification sticker” means a sticker the design of which is published by the Secretary of State and which is affixed to a cold-water meter in accordance with regulation 21;

“enforcement authority” means any person who is, pursuant to regulation 17, authorised to enforce these Regulations;

“enforcement notice” means a notice served in accordance with regulation 19(2);

“enforcement officer” means—

(a)

an inspector; or

(b)

a person appointed by the Secretary of State to act on his behalf to enforce Part II of these Regulations;

“essential requirements” means the requirements set out in Schedule 1;

“harmonised standard” means a technical specification adopted by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) or the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) or jointly by two or all of these organisations, at the request of the Commission pursuant to Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22nd June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society Services(2), as amended by Directive 98/48/EC(3), and prepared in accordance with the General Guidelines agreed between the Commission and one or more of CEN, CENELEC and ETSI;

“instrument” has the same meaning as cold-water meter;

“in writing” includes text that is—

(a)

transmitted by electronic means;

(b)

received in legible form; and

(c)

capable of being used for subsequent reference;

“M marking” means the M marking referred to in regulation 12;

“manufacturer” means a person responsible for the conformity of a cold-water meter with these Regulations with a view to either placing it on the market under his own name or putting it into use for his own purposes, or both;

“maximum permissible error” means, in the case of a cold-water meter—

(a)

when it is in use for trade, the limit of error determined in accordance with regulation 15; and

(b)

when it is placed on the market or put into use, the limit of error determined in accordance with paragraph 15 of Schedule 1;

“normative document” means a document containing technical specifications adopted by the Organisation Internationale de Métrologie Légale, subject to the procedure stipulated in Article 16.1, the reference of which is published by the Commission in the Official Journal of the European Union pursuant to Article 16.1(b);

“notified body” means—

(a)

the Secretary of State; or

(b)

a United Kingdom notified body; and

(c)

for the purposes of regulations 4(1)(c), 19(1)(b), 21(1)(c) and 24(6), a person designated by another member State,

who has been notified to the Commission and the other member States pursuant to Article 11.1;

“notified body criteria” means the criteria set out in Part 1 of Schedule 2;

“place on the market” means making available for the first time in a member State an instrument intended for an end user, whether for reward or free of charge;

“put into use” means the first use of an instrument intended for the end user for the purposes for which it was intended;

“relevant national standard” means a standard applicable to an instrument—

(a)

implementing a harmonised standard that has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union C series; and

(b)

the reference of which is published—

(i)

in the United Kingdom by the Secretary of State; or

(ii)

in another member State by the competent authority pursuant to the third sub-paragraph of Article 13.1;

“relevant normative document” means a normative document applicable to an instrument, the reference of which is published—

(a)

in the United Kingdom by the Secretary of State; or

(b)

in another member State by the competent authority pursuant to the third sub-paragraph of Article 13.2;

“re-qualification sticker” means a sticker the design of which is published by the Secretary of State and which is affixed to a cold-water meter in accordance with regulation 22; and

“United Kingdom notified body” means a person designated under regulation 7.

(2) Other expressions used in these Regulations have the same meanings as in the Weights and Measures Act 1985.

(3) In these Regulations, a reference to a member State includes Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein(4).

(4) References in these Regulations to an Article, Annex or a part of an Annex are references to an Article, Annex or a part of an Annex to the Directive.

Application

3.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2), (3) and (4), these Regulations apply to a cold-water meter which is—

(a) for use for trade for the supply of cold water to domestic premises; and

(b) first placed on the market or put into use on or after 30th October 2006.

(2) These Regulations do not apply to a cold-water meter—

(a) in respect of which a certificate of approval has been granted before 30^th October 2006 and is in force; and

(b) which is first passed as fit for use for trade and stamped under the Measuring Equipment (Cold-water Meters) Regulations 1988(5).

(3) These Regulations do not apply to a cold-water meter—

(a) in respect of a pattern of which EEC pattern approval was granted before 30th October 2006 and is in force; and

(b) which bears a mark of EEC initial verification or of EEC partial verification.

(4) These Regulations do not apply to a cold-water meter which is not compliant with the essential requirements and which is displayed or presented at a trade fair, exhibition or demonstration, if a sign displayed visibly on or near the instrument clearly indicates that the instrument—

(a) is not compliant with those requirements; and

(b) cannot be acquired or used until it is made compliant with those requirements by the manufacturer.

(5) For the purposes of paragraph (1), “domestic premises” means premises which are used for the purposes of living accommodation notwithstanding that such premises are used for other purposes as well as living accommodation.

(6) For the purposes of paragraph (3)—

(a) a grant of EEC pattern approval or the affixing of a mark of EEC initial verification shall be in accordance with the Measuring Instruments (EEC Requirements) Regulations 1988(6) (“the 1988 Regulations”) or, in the case of any other member State, in accordance with the measures in force which implement Council Directive 75/33/EEC(7); and

(b) the affixing of a mark of EEC partial verification shall be in accordance with the 1988 Regulations or, in the case of any other member State, in accordance with the measures in force which implement Council Directive 71/316/EEC(8), as amended by Council Directives 72/427/EEC(9), 83/575/EEC(10), 87/354/EEC(11), 87/355/EEC(12) and 88/665/EEC(13).

(1)

OJ No. L135, 30.4.04, p.1.

(2)

OJ No. L204, 21.7.98, p.37.

(3)

OJ No. L217, 5.8.98, p.18.

(4)

The application of the Directive was extended to the European Economic Area by Decision No. 31/2005 (OJ No. L198, 28.7.05, p.20).

(5)

S.I. 1988/997, as amended by S.I. 2001/1229 and S.I. 2003/214.

(6)

S.I. 1988/186, as amended by S.I. 1988/296 and S.I. 1988/1128.

(7)

OJ No. L14, 20.1.75, p.1, repealed by the Directive.

(8)

OJ No. L202, 6.9.71, p.1, OJ/SE 1971(II), p.707.

(9)

OJ No. L291, 28.12.72, p.156, OJ/SE 1972, 28-30 Dec., p.71.

(10)

OJ No. L332, 28.11.83, p.43.

(11)

OJ No. L192, 11.7.87, p.43.

(12)

OJ No. L192, 11.7.87, p.46.

(13)

OJ No. L382, 31.12.88, p.42.