PRINTER'S NO. 1762
No. 1378 Session of 1989
INTRODUCED BY STAPLETON, HELFRICK, O'PAKE, BELL, DAWIDA, LYNCH,
BELAN, STEWART, ANDREZESKI, AFFLERBACH, WENGER, STOUT,
REIBMAN, MELLOW, PORTERFIELD, REGOLI, SCANLON, MUSTO, LINCOLN
AND ROSS, DECEMBER 4, 1989
REFERRED TO AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS, DECEMBER 4, 1989
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of May 5, 1921 (P.L.389, No.187), entitled "An
2 act to regulate and control the manufacture, sale, offering
3 for sale, giving away, and use of weights and measures and of
4 weighing and measuring devices in the Commonwealth of
5 Pennsylvania; providing for the approval and disapproval of
6 such weights, measures, and devices by the Bureau of
7 Standards; and prescribing penalties," defining certain
8 terms; further providing for the approval of weights,
9 measures and devices; increasing penalties; and making
10 editorial changes.
11 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
12 hereby enacts as follows:
13 Section 1. The title of the act of May 5, 1921 (P.L.389,
14 No.187), entitled "An act to regulate and control the
15 manufacture, sale, offering for sale, giving away, and use of
16 weights and measures and of weighing and measuring devices in
17 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; providing for the approval and
18 disapproval of such weights, measures, and devices by the Bureau
19 of Standards; and prescribing penalties," is amended to read:
20 AN ACT
21 To regulate and control the manufacture, sale, offering for
1 sale, giving away, and use of weights and measures and of
2 weighing and measuring devices in the Commonwealth of
3 Pennsylvania; providing for the approval and disapproval of
4 such weights, measures, and devices by the [Bureau of
5 Standards] State Bureau of Standard Weights and Measures; and
6 prescribing penalties.
7 Section 2. Sections 1, 2 and 4 of the act, amended December
8 18, 1968 (P.L.1245, No.395), are amended to read:
9 Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That the word "type," as used
10 in this act, is defined as a class the individual objects of
11 which are similar one to another in design, construction, size,
12 and material.
13 The term "standard weights and measures," as used in this
14 act, is to be construed to include the standards of weights and
15 measures adopted by the United States and the State of
16 Pennsylvania, in accordance with those furnished by the Federal
17 Government under joint resolutions of Congress, approved June
18 fourteenth, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, and July twenty-
19 seventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and now recognized and
20 in use throughout the United States.
21 The term "use in trade or commerce," as used in this act,
22 shall be construed to include use in buying or selling goods,
23 wares, [or] merchandise or services.
24 The word "person," as used in this act, shall be construed to
25 import both the plural and the singular, as the case demands,
26 and shall include corporations, copartnerships, companies,
27 societies, and associations.
28 The term ["Bureau of Standards"] "bureau" shall be held to
29 mean under or by authority of the [chief of the Pennsylvania
30 Bureau of Standards of the Department of Justice] Director of
19890S1378B1762 - 2 -
1 the State Bureau of Standard Weights and Measures of the
2 Department of Agriculture. When construing or enforcing the
3 provisions of this act, the act, omission, or failure of any
4 officer, agent, or other person, acting for or employed by any
5 corporation, company, society, or association, within the scope
6 of his employment or office, shall in every case be deemed to be
7 the act, omission, or failure of such corporation, partnership,
8 company, society, or association, as well as that of the person.
9 Section 2. The [Bureau of Standards of the Department of
10 Justice] State Bureau of Standard Weights and Measures of the
11 Department of Agriculture is authorized to pass upon each type
12 of weight and measure and weighing and measuring device
13 manufactured, offered or exposed for sale or sold or given away,
14 for the use in trade or commerce, or used in trade or commerce,
15 in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and to approve or
16 disapprove of said type. The said bureau shall approve each type
17 of weight and measure and weighing and measuring device,
18 submitted to it for approval by any person, if such type is so
19 designed and constructed that it conforms to, or gives correct
20 results in terms of, standard weights or measures or in terms of
21 values derived therefrom, and is reasonably permanent in its
22 indication and adjustment, and does not facilitate the
23 perpetration of fraud, otherwise the bureau shall disapprove the
24 same. Certificates of Conformance issued under the National Type
25 Evaluation Program (NTEP), as administered by the National
26 Conference of Weights and Measures, shall be recognized by the
27 bureau. The director of the bureau may require any weight or
28 measure, or any weighing or measuring instrument or device, to
29 be issued a Certificate of Conformance, as issued by the
30 National Institute of Standards and Technology, prior to use for
19890S1378B1762 - 3 -
1 commercial or law enforcement purposes. Weighing and measuring
2 devices sold within this Commonwealth and designed to calculate
3 a service for a charge shall be subject to the provisions of
4 this act only upon issuance of a rule or regulation by the
5 Secretary of Agriculture specifically designating which services
6 and types of devices would be subject to type approval by the
7 bureau. When issuing such rules or regulations, the secretary
8 may exempt devices already installed and in use for calculating
9 a service.
10 Section 4. When a type of weight or measure or weighing or
11 measuring device is approved, the said bureau shall issue a
12 certificate to this effect to the person submitting such type.
13 When a type is disapproved, the said bureau shall notify the
14 person submitting the same of its decision, setting out the
15 reasons therefor, together with such information and references
16 as may be useful in judging of the propriety of the disapproval,
17 and shall give such person an opportunity to be heard in support
18 of his application for approval. The bureau shall then
19 reconsider its decision. If the new decision is adverse to such
20 person, and he is dissatisfied with the same, he may take an
21 appeal from this decision to the [Attorney General] Secretary of
22 Agriculture, who shall examine the matter, and decide whether
23 the type should be approved or disapproved. If the person is
24 dissatisfied with the decision of the [Attorney General]
25 Secretary of Agriculture, he may appeal [to the court of common
26 pleas of the county of which he is a resident, whose decision
27 shall be final] in accordance with law.
28 Section 3. Section 7 of the act is amended to read:
29 Section 7. The [Bureau of Standards] bureau shall register
30 and give a serial number to each type of weight or measure or
19890S1378B1762 - 4 -
1 weighing or measuring device submitted and approved as provided
2 in this act, and shall issue, from time to time, descriptions of
3 such approved types, giving serial number of each type, copies
4 of which shall be furnished to all weights and measures
5 officials.
6 Section 4. Section 8 of the act, amended June 21, 1947
7 (P.L.759, No.324), is amended to read:
8 Section 8. From and after one year after this act takes
9 effect, it shall be unlawful to manufacture, offer or expose for
10 sale or sell or give away, for use in trade or commerce, or to
11 use in trade or commerce, any weight or measure or weighing or
12 measuring device unless it shall be conspicuously, clearly and
13 permanently marked for purposes of identification with the name,
14 initials or trade mark of the manufacturer, and with the
15 manufacturer's designation, which positively identifies the
16 pattern or the design of the device and in such manner as may be
17 prescribed by the rules and regulations authorized by this act:
18 Provided, however, That, whenever it shall appear to the
19 satisfaction of the [Bureau of Standards] bureau that any type
20 of weight or measure or weighing or measuring device is such as
21 to render it impracticable to mark it as required by this
22 section, the said bureau shall furnish a certificate to that
23 effect to any manufacturer applying for the same, and such
24 weights and measures and weighing and measuring devices need not
25 be marked as required by the provisions of this section.
26 Section 5. Sections 10 and 11 of the act are amended to
27 read:
28 Section 10. In case any person may desire to have the type
29 of a part of a weight or measure or weighing or measuring device
30 separately approved and serialized, and shall apply therefor,
19890S1378B1762 - 5 -
1 and the [Bureau of Standards] bureau decides that the part is
2 such that this may properly be done, then such part may be
3 approved and serialized or disapproved as to type, under the
4 same provisions and restrictions as are applied to the approval
5 and serialization or the disapproval of a type of weight or
6 measure or weighing or measuring device by the provisions of
7 this act.
8 Section 11. It shall be conclusively presumed that a weight
9 or measure or weighing or measuring device is intended for use
10 in trade or commerce if it is manufactured, offered or exposed
11 for sale, or sold, for use in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
12 or is used therein, unless it shall bear a plain, legible,
13 conspicuous, and permanent statement to this effect "Not legal
14 for trade." It shall be unlawful to use in trade or commerce any
15 weight or measure or weighing or measuring device which is
16 marked as described above: Provided, however, That whenever it
17 shall appear to the satisfaction of the [Bureau of Standards]
18 bureau that any type of weight or measure or weighing or
19 measuring device is such as to render it impracticable to mark
20 it as required by this section, or is of such design and
21 construction that it is obviously not intended for use in trade
22 or commerce, the said bureau shall furnish a certificate to that
23 effect to any manufacturer applying for the same, and such types
24 of weights and measures and weighing and measuring devices need
25 not be marked as required by the provisions of this section.
26 Section 6. Section 12 of the act, amended December 18, 1968
27 (P.L.1245, No.395), is amended to read:
28 Section 12. Rules and regulations for the carrying out and
29 enforcement of the provisions of this act, not inconsistent with
30 the provisions thereof, shall be adopted by the [Bureau of
19890S1378B1762 - 6 -
1 Standards] bureau, with the approval of the [Attorney General]
2 Secretary of Agriculture, which rules and regulations shall
3 include reasonable variations or tolerances which may be allowed
4 on weights and measures and weighing and measuring devices
5 included within the provisions of this act, and also
6 specifications for such weights and measures and weighing and
7 measuring devices for the guidance of manufacturers in the
8 design and construction of such weights and measures and
9 weighing and measuring devices.
10 Section 7. Section 13 of the act is amended to read:
11 Section 13. Inspectors of weights and measures of the
12 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and sealers of the several counties
13 and cities of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania may seal, for use
14 in trade or commerce, all weights and measures and weighing and
15 measuring devices, the type of which has been approved as
16 required by the provisions of this act or specifically exempted
17 from the necessity of approval by the provisions of this act,
18 when they find that the same are within the tolerances
19 prescribed under the rules and regulations: Provided, however,
20 That this shall not be construed as meaning that the approval of
21 a type shall be taken as evidence of the correctness of any
22 individual weight or measure or weighing or measuring device of
23 that type, or prevent any such inspector or sealer of weights
24 and measures from prohibiting the use of or confiscating any
25 individual weight or measure or weighing or measuring device
26 which is found to be inaccurate or otherwise defective or
27 unlawfully used.
28 Section 8. Section 14 of the act, amended June 21, 1947
29 (P.L.759, No.324), is amended to read:
30 Section 14. [Any person, copartnership, association, or
19890S1378B1762 - 7 -
1 corporation who or which shall violate any provision of this act
2 shall, upon conviction thereof in a summary proceeding before
3 any alderman, magistrate, or justice of the peace of the proper
4 county or city, be sentenced for the first offense to pay a fine
5 of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00), or more than
6 fifty dollars ($50.00) and costs of prosecution, and in default
7 of payment thereof, shall undergo imprisonment for ten days; and
8 for the second offense be sentenced to pay a fine of not less
9 than fifty dollars ($50.00), or more than one hundred dollars
10 ($100.00) and costs of prosecution, and in default of payment
11 thereof, shall undergo imprisonment for twenty days; and for the
12 third offense shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than
13 one hundred dollars ($100.00), or more than two hundred dollars
14 ($200.00) and costs of prosecution, and in default of the
15 payment thereof, shall undergo imprisonment for thirty days.
16 Any person violating any of the provisions of this act, for a
17 fourth or subsequent offense shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
18 and upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of
19 not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00), or more than three
20 hundred dollars ($300.00), or to undergo imprisonment for not
21 more than sixty days, or both.] (a) Any person or his agent who
22 violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a
23 summary offense in the case of a first, second or third offense.
24 The sentencing court shall order the person to pay a fine of:
25 (1) not less than one hundred dollars ($100) for a first
26 offense;
27 (2) not less than two hundred dollars ($200), if the person
28 has previously been convicted of an offense under this section;
29 or
30 (3) not less than three hundred dollars ($300), if the
19890S1378B1762 - 8 -
1 person has twice previously been convicted of an offense under
2 this section.
3 (b) Any person who by himself or by his servant or agent
4 violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a
5 misdemeanor of the third degree when the offense is a fourth
6 offense. The sentencing court shall order the person to pay a
7 minimum fine of five hundred dollars ($500).
8 Section 9. Section 15 of the act is amended to read:
9 Section 15. It shall be the duty of the [chief of the Bureau
10 of Standards] director of the bureau and his deputies and the
11 [inspectors] sealers of weights and measures of the several
12 counties and cities who shall find satisfactory evidence of any
13 violation of the provisions of this act to cause appropriate
14 proceedings to be commenced and prosecuted, without delay, for
15 the enforcement of the penalties as in such case herein
16 provided: Provided, however, That no action or prosecution shall
17 be brought against any person for any violation of this act
18 unless the same is commenced within one year after the offense
19 is committed.
20 Section 10. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
I29L76MRD/19890S1378B1762 - 9 -