Amendment of Packaged Commodities Rules, 2011

The Third Amendment vide GSR. 748 (E) dated 24th October, 2011

The latest amendment, to be effective from 1st July, 2012, make some drastic changes in the Packaged Commodities Rules. Here is a synopsis:

Provision for packing non-standard packages under the proviso to Rule 5, abolished
Indicating month and year of manufacture using a rubber stamp will no longer be allowed.
Provisions regarding declaration of quantity rationalized.
Packaged seized for violation of Rules will be released only after the compliance is carried out.
Packages containing more than 10 g or 10 ml will require all of the statutory declarations
Ice Cream etc. will be sold by weight

View the 3rd Amendment Notification | View the Corrigendum to the 3rd Amendment Notification

The Second Amendment vide GSR 734(E) dated 20th September, 2011

The Central Government introduced a new provision under Rule 6(6) vide notification no. GSR 318 (E) dated 13.04.2011 allowing any packaging material or wrapper which could not be exhausted by the manufacturer or packer, to be used for packing of the material up to 30th September, 2011 or till such date the packaging material or wrapper is exhausted, whichever is earlier, after making corrections required under these rules by way of stamping, or putting sticker or on-line printing, as the case may be.

Now, vide notification no. GSR 734(E) dated 3.09.2011, extended the period up to 31.03.2012.

The extension will facilitate use of existing packing materials to declare MRP with Rupee symbol (optional)and also rounding of the fractions as per revised requirement, through putting a sticker.

The requirement [Rule 2 (m)]

The price shall be printed on the package in the manner given below;
'Maximum or Max. retail price Rs / ..... inclusive of all taxes or in the form MRP Rs / .....incl., of all taxes after taking into account the fraction of less than fifty paisa to be rounded off to the preceding rupees and fraction of above 50 paise and up to 95 paise to the rounded off to fifty paise.

View
The Packaged Commodities Rules | The 1st Amendment Notification | The 2nd Amendment Notification

Draft Government Approved Test Centres Rules

The Government of India circulated the LM (GATC) Rules, 2011 to all states for sending their views thereon by 31,7,2011. The Rule was proposed to be effective from 01.01.2012. Hoover, there is no move at present to frame the Rules as many states are opposed to it on the ground that it would curtail their authority and reduce revenue collection.

It is proposed that verification of Measuring System for liquids other than water (Fuel dispensers), Water Meters, Electricity Meters, Sphygmonameters, Clinical Thermometers, Gluco-meters,CNG dispensers and Weigh-bridges including Automatic Rail Weigh-bridges will be allotted to the Government approved Test Centres,

View the circulated draft of The GATC Rules

The Legal Metrology Act and Rules comes into force

The Central Government has appointed the date 1st April 2011 from which the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and all the Rules made thereunder, will come into effect. Gazette Notifications in this respect has been published. The Central Government has also notified the following Rules made under the Act.

The Legal Metrology Act, 2009 replaces the Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976 and the Standards of Weights and Measures (Enforcement) act , 1985.

The Act and the Rules made thereunder comes into force with effect from 1st April 2011. But, in the States the Act and the Rules as well as the State Enforcement Rules will come into force from the date of their notification in the official gazette of the State.

The Legal Metrology Act, 2009

Salient Points

Appointment of Government approved Test Centers (GATC) for verification of weights and measures
Simplified definition of "Packaged Commodity"
Stringent punishment for violation of provisions are some of the new features of the Act.
Provisions on Inter-State trade and commerce of weights and measures are removed
Companies may nominate a director who will be held responsible for any act of violation of provisions of the Act.
Manufacturers and importers are required to seek approval of model of the weight or measure even if it is meant for domestic uses. Moreover, State Government is no longer competent to grant model approval.
Under the new regulation, verification of a weight or measure will be valid only within the State where it was stamped and will require further verification before selling or use in another state, even if the instrument does not require dismantling and reassembling.
From now on, verification of weights and measures used in any transaction or for protection will be required. But,the term "protection" is defined in such a broad frame that the industrial production may be misconstrued to included within the "protection" and will only lead to confusion.

Gazette Notification

The Act was notified in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 1 No. 1, dated 14.01.2010. It was to come into force on the date as may be notified.

The Government of India has issued a corrigendum vide Gazette of India, Extraordinary Part II, Section 1, dated 14th January 2010 (Issue No. 1), - Stating "At Page 12, line 19, for '52',read '53' "

Now, the Section 48(3) will read: The Controller or legal metrology officer specially authorized by him, may compound of ofences punishable under section 25, section 27 to 31, section 33 to 37, sections 45 to 47, and any rule made under subsection (3) of section 53: Provided .....

The Government has issued the necessary notification vide no S210 (E) dated 31.01.2011. The Act comes into force w.e.f 01.04.2011.

The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011

This is an edited version of the previous Packaged Commodities Rules of 1977, corrected up to 1.1.2007, with inclusions of provisions made through different amendment notifications. The Rule was notified vide GSR (E) dated 7th Marc, 2011

Major changes

The MRP will be rounded to preceding rupee, if the fraction is less than 50 paise and fraction between 50 to 95 paise will be rounded to 50 paise. Above that there will be no rounding.
To be eligible for exemption from provisions of Chapter II (Packages intended for retail sale), an institutional or industrial consumer will have to make the purchase directly from the manufacturer (not from a packer or a dealer). This exemption will not allow re-sell of the packages.
For packaging soaps, lotion and creams (except milk cream), it is permissible to declare the weight or volume qualified by the words "when packed"
Provisions relating to wholesale and retail dealers (previous Rule 23, presently 18) will be applicable to the importer.
Any advertisement mentioning the retail sale price of the pre-packaged commodity shall contain a declaration as to the net quantity or number of the commodity contained in the package.

The Legal Metrology (General) Rules, 2011

The Legal Metrology (General) Rules, 2011 was introduced vide notification no GSR 71(E) dated 7th February, 2011. It repeals and substitutes the SoWM (General) Rules of 1987 and comes into force with effect from the 1st April 2011

A Corrigendum Notification was issued vide GSR 317(E) dated 13th April, 2011. This revises the fee structure given under the Twelfth Schedule.

Main features

Periodical interval for re-verification of weights and measures is included under Rule 27. Earlier, this item was included in the State Enforcement Rules. It will be two years for for all weights, capacity measures, length measures, tape, beam scale, counter machine.
Five years for storage tanks and one year for all others.
Qualification of Legal Metrology Officers has been prescribed under Rule 28. An LMO cannot be given posting unless he successfully completes the basic training course at the IILM, Ranchi.
The Schedules of the 87 Rules have been reorganized.

Many items omitted

Many instruments, for example, have been left out of the schedules. Their quality and standard are not subject to any metrological control.

Continuous totalizing automatic weighing instruments (belt weighers).
Speedometer, mechanical odometer and chronotachographs for motor vehicles.
Load cells

The Rules prescribes physical characteristics, configuration, construction details and materials (not in all cases), equipment, performances and tolerance the weights and measures should conform to, but methods or procedures of test have not been included. So, the Rules is inadequate to meet the requirements of Section 7(4) of the Act

On what basis, the IILM is supposed to train the LMOs? Anything they teach, except the legal aspects, will not be supported by Rules.

Fall outs

Testing procedures will vary from region to region, even within the state.
The testing procedures will never be transparent to the user.
The LMO may adopt a dubious procedure and may take plea that he is not bound to follow any particular procedure.
Newly appointed LMOs will face tremendous difficulty in absence of any standard test procedures and may resort to skip certain tests altogether. They will be easily hoodwinked by a more experienced repairer.

The Central Government should prescribe, in a separate volume, the testing procedures to be followed, as many countries have done. And this should include test reports.

The Legal Metrology (Approval of Models) Rules, 2011

The LM (Approval of Models) Rules, 2011 repeals and replaces the SoWM (Approval of Models) Rules of 1987. This was introduced vide notification no. GSR 183(E) dated 1st March, 2011. However, in the new Act, Section 73 of the SoWM (Enforcement) Act, 1985 is not included. Now, all manufacturers including the smaller ones whose products are sold only within a state, will have to apply for approval of model before the Director. The model will have to be submitted to one of the four regional laboratories.

Is the Central Government is aware of the difficulty, time and money that will be caused to a small industry? Surely, they do not want the smaller industries to shut their shutters down and flood the market with low quality imported items which will be much cheaper?

The State Secondary Laboratories which verify the working standards used by LMOs, are not thought competent enough to test models of even simple weighing instruments. If so, they should be upgraded with central assistance and allow models to be tested locally

Model Enforcement Rules, 2011 for States

The Government of India circulated a model draft Legal Metrology (Enforcement) Rules, 2011 for States/UTs. It was expected that there will be a uniformity in state legislations throughout the country. The States required to follow the Model and also to consult the Central government before finalizing their Rules, in terms of provisions of Section 53(1) of the Act. However, the Central Government either ignored the deviations or succumbed to unfair state wishes.

While some of the states followed the model in respect of fixing compounding fees, others opted for a range from the minimum to maximum without specifying any ground to form the basis. The transparency is thus compromised. It is also unfair that for the same offense, one may get away with a very low amount while another will have to pay the maximum amount.

In some states, dealers of weights and measures will have to get their unsold stock re-verified after the prescribed period by paying full fees, in others, dealers will face no such ordeal. This is very unfair.

Salient Features of the Model Enforcement Rules.

License for manufacturing, dealership or repairing will remain valid for one to five years. The license or renewal fee will be Rs. 500 per year for manufacturer, and Rs. 200 per year for others.
Every licensee will have to furnish a security deposit of Rs 200 for each license.
Issue of Verification Certificate and display thereof, omitted in the main act, has been reintroduced.
There is a provision for issuing a duplicate verification certificate on payment of a fee of Rs.10.
LMO is authorized to recover expenses incurred for visiting a premises for verification, including costs of transporting and handling Working Standards and other equipment at minimum of. Rs. 100
Paper Seal/Sticker may be used for affixing verification stamp, design of which will be approved by the Controller.
There will be a uniform rate for compounding of an offense.