Your customers have the right to expect that the goods they buy are exactly what they paid for. For example, that a kilogram of mince is a kilogram of mince, a litre of petrol is just that, not any less. It is for this reason that accurate weighing and measuring is so important. It means that consumers can buy goods confidently and know that their dealings are conducted in a fair and honest manner.

Requirements
Packaging
General products
Food and alcohol
Pre-packed articles

Fair Trading's role in trade measurement

To ensure that weights and measures are accurate the Office of Fair Trading administers the NSW Trade Measurement Act and works closely with industry to ensure that weighing and measuring instruments are accurate.

Fair Trading inspectors regularly inspect goods and measuring instruments in use for trade throughout NSW, to protect consumers and traders from inaccurate measurement. This includes weighing lotto balls, shop scales, petrol and LPG pumps, liquor dispensers, weighbridges and industrial scales.

If you use a measuring instrument, you must ensure that it is:

• regularly checked
• of an approved type
• verified or certified before use and while in use
• verified or certified after repair or adjustment
• properly installed and operates correctly
• accurate during use
• accurate under possible extreme conditions
• level and registers zero before use.

If you pre-pack goods, you must ensure that labels contain:

• the correct content in grams (g), kilograms (kg), millilitres (mL), or litres (L), and
• the name and address of the packaging company or manufacturer.

Failure to comply with the Trade Measurement Act can result in the issue of infringement notices up to $500 or prosecution with penalties up to $100,000.

Servicing measuring instruments

The Office of Fair Trading licenses service organisations that specialise in servicing scales, petrol pumps and weighing equipment, to assist businesses to keep their measuring instruments accurate.

You are required by law to have instruments checked for accuracy on a regular basis, and if necessary repaired and corrected. This is usually done in the one visit to avoid paying for evaluation and repair separately. By doing so, you can confidently expect the goods you sell are accurately measured to a precise standard and your customers get exactly what they paid for. For your nearest licensed service organisation contact the Office of Fair Trading
on (02) 8467 4400.

The benefits of Trade Measurement to business include the following:

• everyone competes on an equal basis
• it assists you in your stock control
• you do not lose product through poor or inaccurate measurement, which means loss of money or profits
• it safeguards you from potential prosecution
• it promotes customer confidence in your trade with repeat business.

Require more information?

If you require clarification or further information you should contact the nearest Fair Trading Centre on 13 32 20 or the Standards Laboratory at Lindfield on (02) 8467 4400 which is a verifying authority appointed under the National Measurement Act. The laboratory can verify standards of measurement including mass, pressure, length, density, volume, area and temperature.

A certificate of verification can be issued under the National Measurement Regulations, which makes the standard legally valid throughout Australia.