Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland
1999 No. 160

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
Measuring Equipment (Measures of Length) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Made
29th March 1999

Coming into operation
10th May 1999

The Department of Economic Development, in exercise of the powers conferred by Articles 9(1) and (3) and 13(1) and (2) of the Weights and Measures (Northern Ireland) Order 1981(1) and now vested in it(2) and of every other power enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:—

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Measuring Equipment (Measures of Length) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 and shall come into operation on 10th May 1999.

Amendment of the Measuring Equipment (Measures of Length) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1986

2.  The Measuring Equipment (Measures of Length) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1986(3) shall be amended as provided in regulations 3 to 5.

3.  After regulation 22 there shall be added the following regulations—

“Statistical Sampling

22A.  Where the measures of length submitted for testing are manufactured in series and the person submitting them produces to the inspector a written statement made by the manufacturer that those measures have already been adequately checked, the inspector shall, at the request of that person carry out on those measures a statistical check by attributes as defined in paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 in accordance with the provisions of that Schedule and shall either accept or reject those measures accordingly.

Measures of Length imported from another member State or an EEA State

22B.—(1) In relation to any measures of length imported into Northern Ireland, whether directly or indirectly through Great Britain from another member State or from an EEA State, subject to paragraph (4), an inspector shall not carry out any test in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Part if, together with the measures of length being imported, he is presented with the requisite documentation.

(2) In this regulation and in regulation 24(2)—

(a)“requisite documentation” means—

(i)the test report of an approved body stating that the measures of length which are the subject of that report have been tested in accordance with the tests mentioned in this Part and stating which tests have been applied to those measures of length; and

(ii)the test results relating to those tests; and

(b)“EEA State” means a State which is a Contracting Party to the EEA Agreement other than the United Kingdom and in this paragraph “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.

(3) A body is an “approved body” for the purposes of this regulation if it is a body in a member State or an EEA State which has the responsibility in that State for metrological control of measures of length or is a laboratory which has been accredited for the purposes of testing measures of length in a member State or in an EEA State as being a body which conforms with the criteria set out in EN 45001(4).

(4) Nothing in these Regulations shall prevent an inspector testing in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Part where he is not satisfied—

(a)as to the authenticity of the test report or the results presented to him; or

(b)that the test results presented to him are results which in fact relate to the measures of length being imported.”.

4.  For regulation 24 there shall be substituted the following regulation—

“Passing as fit for use for trade

24.—(1) Save in the case of measures of length imported from another member State or an EEA State, a measure of length shall not be passed as fit for use for trade unless—

(a)on testing,—

(i)it falls within the prescribed limits of error;

(ii)it is constructed in a manner which does not facilitate fraudulent use and it does not bear any decorations or designs which might cause confusion in use; and

(iii)it complies with all the appropriate requirements of these Regulations; or

(b)in the case of a measure of length which has not been tested, it forms part of a group of measures treated under regulation 22A as having satisfied the test or tests therein mentioned.

(2) In the case of measures of length imported from another member State or from an EEA State, a measure of length shall not be passed as fit for use for trade unless—

(a)either—

(i)where the requisite documentation is presented in accordance with regulation 22B, the test report recites and the test data confirm to the satisfaction of the inspector that on testing in accordance with the provisions of the law of a member State or an EEA State the measure falls within the prescribed limits of error;

(ii)in the case of a measure of length which has not been tested, it forms part of a group of measures treated under regulation 22A as having satisfied the test or tests therein mentioned; or

(iii)it complies with all the relevant requirements of these Regulations; and

(b)it is constructed in a manner which does not facilitate fraudulent use and it does not bear any decorations or designs which might cause confusion in use.”.

5.  The Schedule shall be renumbered as “Schedule 1” and after it there shall be added the following Schedule—

regulation 22A

“SCHEDULE 2Statistical Sampling Methods

Inspection procedures

1.—(1) The inspector shall use, at his election, one of the two inspection methods described in sub-paragraphs (2), (3) and (4).

(2) The inspection methods referred to in sub-paragraph (1) are a single submission scheme (“method A”) and a multiple submission scheme (“method B”). In the case of each method, the check to be carried out by the inspector shall consist of determining the number of defective measures in the sample taken by him.

(3) Where the inspector elects to use method A, he shall apply, for the purpose of accepting or rejecting the lot submitted, a sampling plan having the following characteristics, that is to say—

a standard quality level (SQL) between 0.40 and 0.90 per cent; and

a limiting quality level (LQ5) between 4.0 and 6.5 per cent.

The following are examples of sampling plans—

Table 1

Single Sampling Plan

Sample size number
Acceptance number
Rejection number
LQ5
SQL

(a)
80
1
2
5.8
0.44

(b)
125
2
3
5.0
0.65

Table 2

Double Sampling Plan

Sample size
Total size
Acceptance number
Rejection number
LQ5
SQL

(a)
First Sample
50
50
0
2

5.8
0.44

Second Sample
50
100
1
2

First Sample
80
80
0
3

5.0
0.65

Second Sample
80
160
3
4

Where the inspector rejects a lot, he may, if he considers it appropriate to do so and the person submitting it so agrees, inspect each measure of length comprised in the lot and pass, or refuse to pass, as appropriate, each such measure as fit for use for trade in accordance with regulation 24.

(4) Where the inspector elects to use method B, he shall apply, for the purpose of accepting or rejecting the lot submitted, sampling plans in accordance with Table 3.

Table 3

Sampling Plans

Order of submission
Sample size
Acceptance number
Rejection number

1
70
0
1

2
85
0
1

3
105
0
1

4
120
0
1

Where the inspector has accepted a lot, he shall test the next lot to be submitted to him in accordance with the parameters applicable to “Order of submission 1” in Table 3.

Where the inspector has rejected a lot (and accordingly not passed the measures of length comprised in it as fit for use for trade), the person submitting it to the inspector may submit to him for inspection either the same or another lot. The inspector shall then inspect the lot submitted to him in accordance with the parameters of the line of Table 3 immediately below the one applied by the inspector to the lot rejected by him immediately before. If the inspector does not accept the lot after inspecting it in accordance with the parameters applicable to “Order of submission 4” in Table 3, he shall, if the person submitting it so agrees, inspect each measure of length comprised in the lot.

Interpretation

2.  In this Schedule—

“acceptance number”, in relation to a statistical check by attributes, means the greatest number of defective measures found in the sample which, if attained, will nevertheless result in the acceptance of the lot being inspected;

“double sampling plan” means a sampling plan, an example of which is given in Table 2 under which the number of individual measures of length inspected is to be equal to the size of the first sample as specified by the plan and which entails the application of the following methodology. Where the number of defective measures found in the first sample is less than or equal to the first acceptance number, the lot is to be accepted. Where the number of defective measures found in the first sample is equal to or greater than the first rejection number, the lot is to be rejected. Where the number of defective measures found in the first sample falls between the first acceptance number and the first rejection number, a second sample, the size of which is specified by the plan, is to be inspected. Where the sum of the number of defective measures found in the first and second samples is less than or equal to the second acceptance number, the lot is to accepted. Where such sum is greater than or equal to the second rejection number, the lot is to be rejected;

“limiting quality level (LQ5)” means the quality level of the lot submitted which corresponds in a sampling plan to a 5 per cent probability of acceptance;

“lot” means a group of measures of length, the number of which does not exceed 10,000 and which are of the same pattern, belong to the same precision class and are manufactured by the same process, and “size of the lot” means the number of measures of length comprised in the lot;

“rejection number”, in relation to a statistical check by attributes, means the number of defective measures of length found in the sample inspected which, if equalled or exceeded, will result in the rejection of the lot being inspected;

“sample” means a number of measures of length selected at random from a lot, and “sample size” means the number of measures of length in a sample;

“single sampling plan” means a sampling plan, an example of which is given in Table 1, under which the number of individual measures of length is to be equal to the size of the sample as specified by the plan and which entails the application of the following methodology. Where the number of defective measures found in the sample is less than or equal to the acceptance number, the lot is to be accepted. Where the number of defective measures is greater than or equal to the rejection number, the lot is to be rejected;

“standard quality level (SQL)” means the quality level of the lot submitted which corresponds in a sampling plan to a 95 per cent probability of acceptance; and

“statistical check by attributes” means an inspection in which the measures of length in a sample are classed as defective or not defective in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations.”.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Economic Development on

L.S.
A. L. Brown
Assistant Secretary
29th March 1999.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)
These Regulations amend the Measuring Equipment (Measures of Length) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1986.
They make the following changes of substance:
(a)testing of measures of length may be carried out on the basis of testing a sample of measures drawn from a lot (regulations 3 and 5); and
(b)duplication of testing of measures of length imported from other member States of the European Union or from EEA States is avoided by allowing inspectors of weights and measures testing the fitness of such measures for use for trade to accept test reports and results from approved bodies in those States (regulations 3 and 4).
Copies of EN 45001 (BS 7501) referred to in regulation 3 may be obtained from: any of the sales outlets operated by the British Standards Institution (BSI); any bookshop of the Stationery Office; or by post from BSI at Linford Wood, Milton Keynes MK14 6LE.
The Regulations have been notified to the European Commission pursuant to Council Directive 83/189/EEC (O.J. No. L109, 26.4.83, p. 8) as amended by Council Directive 88/182/EEC (O.J. No. L81, 26.3.88, p. 75) and European Parliament and Council Directive 94/10/EC (O.J. No. L100, 19.4.94, p. 30) which lays down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations.


(1)
S.I. 1981/231 (N.I. 10)

(2)
By S.I. 1982/846 (N.I. 11) Art. 4

(3)
S.R. 1986 No. 308 as amended by S.R. 1995 No. 228

(4)
EN 45001 is a European Standard which has the status of a British Standard; it is identical with BS 7501 (ISBN 0 580 17939 7), “General criteria for the operating of testing laboratories”.