UK Offence Report

The Weights Regulations 1986

UK Statutory Instrument 1986 No. 1683 — creates 1 criminal offence.

1offences created
0recorded in force
0revoked
Made
29 September 1986
In force from
1 November 1986
Extent
Not stated
Subject
Food, consumer protection, trading standards, product safety and age-restricted sales
Made under
Weights and Measures Act 1985

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — published with the instrument by the department that made it. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

These Regulations replace the Weights Regulations 1970 as amended. They apply to all weights for use for trade other than those used for weighing coins or currency notes or those used in connection with certain weighing equipment. They make provision as to the materials and principles of construction and marking of weights, testing, prescribed limits of error, stamping and obliteration of stamps. The Regulations prescribe weights for the purposes of section 11(1) of the Weights and Measures Act 1985 so that it is unlawful to use them for trade purposes unless they have been tested, passed as fit for such use and stamped by an inspector of weights and measures. The Regulations make the following changes of substance:— a metric weights of 50 g may now be of the disc form and troy weights of 1 oz tr or more may have a carrying handle as an alternative to a knob (Regulation 5(1)); b the adjusting hole may be empty and in the case of a carat (metric) or troy weight may be closed with a plug or disc flush with the surface of the weight instead of being secured by a lead pellet driven into an undercut recess or thread (Regulation 6(3) and (4)); c weights are to be tested with a view to passing as fit for use for trade by the method of substitution (instead of substitution or comparison), and testing may be carried out on other testing equipment besides balances or beamscales. Moreover weights of the following classes may be tested with appropriate working standard weights only if those standards fall within the prescribed limits of error relating to equivalent local standard weights: i metric weights of not more than 20 mg nor less than 1 mg; ii carat (metric) weights; iii weights expressed as multiples or fractions of 1/7000 lb; and iv ounce troy weights. (Regulation 9 and Schedule 3); d the permissible limits of error are amended (Regulation 10). The Regulations come into operation on 1st November 1986 with the exception of Regulation 13 relating to the obliteration of the stamp, which comes into operation on 1st September 1988. This gives those persons affected by lower limits of error time to have their weights adjusted or replaced.

Offences created by this instrument

How Parliament handled it

Parliament's Statutory Instruments service records procedure from May 2017 onwards, and this instrument predates it. That is a limit of the source, not a statement that nothing happened.

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