Trading Standards has developed an online tool that will allow traders to easily locate Accredited Persons. Thank you to all Management Representatives that responded to the information request sent on the 19th May.

The online tool is available on our website. 

Trading Standards guidance documents previously directed traders to the yellow pages in order to locate an Accredited Person. These guidance documents will be updated to direct traders to the online tool. The tool will be provided to www.business.govt.nz, who are responsible for providing business advice, especially to start-up businesses.

The tool will also be made available to numerous industry associations across New Zealand.

For Accredited Organisations that would like their information included in the tool, please contact Kevin Gudmundsson.

Trading Standards conducted a survey, involving all Management Representatives, to supply the total number of ‘Certificate of Accuracy’ (COA)   issued for a variety instrument categories between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2014.

This information has proved to be extremely valuable for Trading Standards and should also allow Accredited Organisations to determine the proportion of instruments their organisation covers.  

Thank you to Management Representatives that contributed information.

The application for accreditation is the latest document to be rebranded. The new document allows users to complete it online and is available for download from the Accredited Person section on our website, under the heading how to become an Accredited Person.

The form provides all instrument classifications within a drop down menu and is to be completed for the following requests; initial or renewal of accreditation, Management Representative audit, extension to Letter of Accreditation and removal of an AP or a class of instrument.

The Accreditation Guide will be updated in due course to reflect this.

Weights and Measures Legislation has recently been passed in Samoa and Trading Standards accepted a request from our Samoan colleagues to provide a two week training course in May, which coincidentally coincided with ‘Samoan Language Week’. Their training took place in a ‘chilly’ Christchurch, where our officers provided a hands-on approach for: testing and calibration of weighing instruments and driveway flowmeters, length measuring, the average quantity system, approvals and enforcement.  Site inspections also took place at a supermarket, fuel station and also two visits with accredited persons.
The training delivered was tailored to the specific requirements of the new Samoan Act and Regulations, which made it more realistic and helpful for the two participants. The training team involved Julian Crane, Bob Jones, and Ben Aitken and they said “it was a pleasure to host and work with our Pacific neighbours and our visitors left knowing that our support is here whenever we can help”.

A desiccating good is one that loses weight or volume over time solely through moisture loss. Examples of a desiccating good can be mushrooms, soap, grass seed and animal feeds. This loss of net quantity can occur when the goods are stored under environmental conditions which allow moisture to escape from the packaging.

A factsheet has been created for manufacturers of goods that are desiccating, the factsheet provides an explanation of the defences available in the Weights and Measures Act 1987. A printed copy is available on request from Trading Standards or on our website.

Working Standards of mass, recently submitted to a Trading Standards laboratory for testing and verification, were rejected. These masses were purchased from an overseas supplier but were rejected by Trading Standards due to not complying with the requirements specified in the international recommendation OIML R111-1, Edition 2004.

Working Standards of mass, that have not previously been submitted, will have to meet these requirements. The following is a summary of the requirements. 

Shape and Construction – Physical standards of mass shall be designed to prevent deterioration and have no prominent hollows to avoid accumulation of dust or debris.   See Section 6 and 7 of the R111 document.     

Markings – Section 13 details the marking requirements and method so that the surface quality and stability of the weight are not affected. 
   
Material – Weights must be constructed of suitable material so any change in the mass of the weights is negligible and maintains its accuracy within the permissible error limits.  See Section 8 of the R111 document.

Adjustment  – Any additions to adjust the weight must use the same material or other types as detailed in section 12. Trading Standards recommends replacing any weight that cannot be adjusted within MPE. 

Cleaning weights – Weights must always be stored and handled properly to prevent any contamination that can affect the accuracy and degrade the overall quality of the mass standard.   Information on cleaning weights is detailed in Section B.4.  Additional information can be found in “Good Practice Guide – Cleaning, Handling and Storage of Weights”.

Maximum Permissible Errors (MPE) – All weights used for the purpose of legal metrology must have their values within the MPE as detailed in Section 28 (2) of the Weights and Measures Regulation 1999 and Table 1 of OIML R111.

Approvals issued since the April issue of 'The Measure'

An updated file of approval certificates is now available for download from our Certificates of Approval Database.

Please note it is your responsibility to ensure that you download the updated files when they are released every four months.  If you need to view certificates, you can download the full set or contact Srinivas Bobbala, Advisor Type Approvals Technical.

A total of 56 approval certificates were issued between 1 July 2013 and 30th June 2014.

Mass Flow Measuring system

Q. What error limit is allowed for repeatability test on a Direct Mass Flow Measuring System?

A. For a repeatability test, the difference between the largest amount of error and the smallest amount of error must be no greater than 0.2% of the quantity measured during testing. 
Ref:  Section 74 of the Weight and Measures Regulations 1999

Automatic Weighing Instruments

Q. What is an Automatic Weighing Instrument and do they require trade approval?

A.  An automatic weighing instrument simply follows a pre-determined program to perform consecutive weighing cycles without any intervention from an operator.   Instruments have self-acting machinery that automatically loads goods (fills the goods) to be weighed and that automatically weighs those goods.

Section 22 of the Act exempts automatic weighing instruments from the requirements of getting approval and stamping with a mark of verification.

The exemption only applies to:

• An overseas type approved instrument of Class "X" (OIML R51, Automatic Checkweighers), or/and
• Any weighing instrument which is part of a system that satisfies the definition of ‘Automatic Weighing Instrument’ as defined above and the instruments are used:
  (i) to weigh the packages to meet the requirements of a statistical model (sampling plans), or/and
  (ii) controls the automatic filling instrument which is packing goods to a statistical model (sampling plans).

Auckland: PO Box 19543, Auckland 1746

Trading Standards Officers:
Agatha Cordeiro       09 970 4359 or  021 482 712
Alex Day                  09 970 4354 or  021 245 7262
Davis White              09 970 4355 or 021 845 746

Trainee Trading Standards Officer:
David Antunovich      09 970 4358 or  021 244 9194

Advisor Type Approvals and Technical:
Srinivas Bobbala       09 970 4352 or  021 582 055

Christchurch:    Private Bag 4714, Christchurch

Trading Standards Officers:
Julian Crane             03 962 6216 or  021 349 866
Ben Aitken               03 962 6218 or  021 445 857

National Operational Team Leader:
Bob Jones                03 962 6214 or  021 451 542

Wellington:       PO Box 10729, Wellington 6011

Trading Standards Officers:
Drew Delany             04 901 1281 or 029 771 0085
Phil Sorrell               04 901 2420 or 021 839 487

Acting Legal Metrology Advisor:
Kevin Gudmundsson 04 939 8429 or  021 244 7313

Trading Standards Manager:
Stephen O'Brien       04 460 1367 or  021 221 4830

Administrative Support:
Leigh Burns          04 498 7447