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LEGAL METROLOGY CONFERENCE

301 BUSINESS PARK 18, S.V.ROAD, MALAD (West), MUMBAI – 400064, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA. Tel: 022-28761856 / 28727363 M: 9082415511 Email: info@taitma.org / taitma76@gmail.com. LEGAL METROLOGY CONFERENCE. at. Hotel REVIVAL BANQUETS

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LEGAL METROLOGY CONFERENCE

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  1. 301 BUSINESS PARK 18, S.V.ROAD, MALAD (West), MUMBAI – 400064, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA. Tel: 022-28761856 / 28727363 M: 9082415511 Email: info@taitma.org/ taitma76@gmail.com LEGAL METROLOGY CONFERENCE at Hotel REVIVAL BANQUETS Girgaum Chowpatty Mumbai on 16th FERBUARY, 2019 Speaker Mr. ASHUTOSH AGARWAL Deputy Director (Legal Metrology) Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs Government of India

  2. Ashutosh Agarwal Deputy Director (Legal Metrology) Email: ashutosh.agarwal13@nic.in Government of India Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs

  3. Legal Metrology Act, 2009 The Act aims to establish and enforce standards of weights and measures, regulate trade and commerce in goods which are sold and distributed by weight, measure or number, etc.

  4. Objective • The objective of Legal Metrology is to ensure public guarantee from the point of view of security and accuracy of the weighments and measurements. • A transparent and efficient legal metrology system inspires confidence in trade, industry and consumer and brings harmonious environment for conducting business.

  5. OIML • Intergovernmental organisation, created in 1955 based in Paris, • To promote the global harmonization of the Legal Metrology, • India became member in 1956. • India signed metric convention in 1957.

  6. HIERARCHY CHART OF STANDARDS AND ITS TRACEABILITY FOR MASS INTERNATIONAL STANDARD NATIONAL PROTOTYPE OF STANDARD (Once in 10 years) REFERENCE STANDARDS (Verification once in 3 years) SECONDARY STANDARDS (Once in two years) WORKING STANDARDS (Once in a year) COMMERCIAL WEIGHTS (Once in two years)

  7. CONTRIBUTION TO ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF THE COUNTRY • Plays important role in reducing revenue losses in fields like coal, mines, industries, petroleum, railways. • Impetus to establishment of industries/ employment generation • Image of country enhanced in international markets

  8. Constitutional Provisions Legislative Provisions • Establishment of the Standards of Weights and Measures –UNION LIST – Entry 50. • Weights and Measures except establishment of Standards –CONCURRENT LIST – Entry 33 A. • The Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and Rules made thereunder were implemented w.e.f. 1st April, 2011.

  9. Important definitions under the Act: • "protection" means the utilization of reading obtained from any weight or measure, for the purpose of determining any step which is required to be taken to safeguard the well-being of any human being or animal, or to protect any commodity, vegetation or thing, whether individually or collectively;

  10. Important definitions under the Act (cont.): • "transaction" means,- • (i) any contract, whether for sale, purchase, exchange or any other purpose, or • (ii) any assessment of royalty, toll, duty or other dues, or • (iii) the assessment of any work done, wages due or services rendered;

  11. “Declarations on pre-packaged commodities: • Sec. 18. (1) No person shall manufacture, pack, sell, import, distribute, deliver, offer, expose or possess for sale any pre-packaged commodity unless such package is in such standard quantities or number and bears thereon such declarations and particulars in such manner as may be prescribed. • (2) Any advertisement mentioning the retail sale price of a pre-packaged commodity shall contain a declaration as to the net quantity or number of the commodity contained in the package in such form and manner as may be prescribed.”

  12. 36. Penalty for selling etc. of non-standard packages: • (1) Whoever manufactures, packs, imports, sells, distributes, delivers or otherwise transfers, offers, exposes or possesses for sale, or causes to be sold, distributed, delivered or otherwise transferred, offered, exposed for sale any pre-packaged commodity which does not conform to the declarations on the package as provided in this Act, shall be punished with fine which may extend to twenty-five thousand rupees, for the second offence, with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees and for the subsequent offence, with fine which shall not be less than fifty thousand rupees but which may extend to one lakh rupees or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with both. • (2) Whoever manufactures or packs or imports or causes to be manufactured or packed or imported, any pre-packaged commodity, with error in pet quantity as may be prescribed shall be punished with fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees but which may extend to fifty thousand rupees and for the second and subsequent offence, with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with both.

  13. Packaged Commodities Rules-2011

  14. The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 Definition: • Sec 2(l)‘Pre-packaged commodity’: A commodity which without the purchaser being present is placed in a package of whatever nature, whether sealed or not, so that the product contained therein has a pre-determined quantity. • Sec.2 (f) “Label” means any written, marked, stamped printed or graphic matter affixed to, or appearing upon any pre-packaged commodity.

  15. Rule 2(h) of Packaged Commodities Rules 2011 defines “Principal Display Panel” in relation to a package, means the total surface area of the package where the information required under these rules are to be given in the following manner, namely; • all the information could be grouped together and given at one place; or • (ii) the pre-printed information could be grouped together and given in one place and on line information grouped together in other place;

  16. The LM (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 Mandatory declarations • Name and address of the manufacturer/ packer/ importer; • Common or generic name of the commodity: • Net quantity; • Month and year of manufacture/ pack/ import • Retail sale price in the form of Maximum Retail Price Inclusive of all taxes; • Consumer care details; • Country of origin.

  17. Rule 18(5) No wholesale dealer or retail dealer or other person shall obliterate, smudge or alter the retail sale price

  18. New provisions w.e.f. 1st January, 2018: • ‘(bc) “institutional consumer” means the institution which buys packaged commodities bearing a declaration ‘not for retail sale’, directly from the manufacturer or from an importer or from wholesale dealer for use by that institution and not for commercial or trade purposes;’; • ‘(bd) “E-commerce” means buying and selling of goods and services including digital products over digital and electronic network; • Application of Chapter.-   • (a) packages of commodities containing quantity of more than 25 kilogram or 25 litre; • (b) cement, fertilizer and agricultural farm produce sold in bags above 50 kilogram; and • (c) packaged commodities meant for industrial consumers or institutional consumers.”.

  19. New provisions w.e.f. 1st January, 2018: • “(aa) The name of the country of origin or manufacture or assembly in case of imported products shall be mentioned on the package;”; • ‘(da) If a package contains a commodity which may become unfit for human consumption after a period of time, the ‘best before or use by the date, month and year’ shall also be mentioned on the label: •  Provided that nothing in this clause shall apply if a provision in this regard is made in any other law. • Explanation.- 1. For the purposes of this sub-rule,- •  (a) the expression “best before” means the date which signifies the end of the period under any stated storage conditions during which the product shall remain fully marketable and shall retain any specific qualities for which tacit or express claims have been made and beyond the date commodity may still be safe for consumption; • (b)the expression“Use by Date” means the date which signifies the end of the estimated period under any stated storage conditions after which the product shall not have the quality attributes normally expected by the consumers and after this date, the commodity should not be regarded as marketable.’;

  20. New provisions w.e.f. 1st January, 2018: • “(4A) Nothing in this rule shall preclude a manufacturer or packer or importer to declare the following on the package, in addition to the mandatory declarations- • (a) Barcode or GTIN or QR Code; • (b) ‘e-code’ for net quantity assurance of the commodity and other required declarations, after obtaining the same in the manner as specified by the Central Government; • (c) logos of Government schemes, such as Swatch Bharat Mission, where such use is authorised by the Central Government.”;

  21. New provisions w.e.f. 1st January, 2018: • “(10) An E-Commerce entity shall ensure that the mandatory declarations as specified in sub-rule (1), except the month and year in which the commodity is manufactured or packed, shall be displayed on the digital and electronic network used for e-commerce transactions: • Provided that in case of market place model of e-commerce, responsibility of the correctness of declarations shall lie with the manufacturer or seller or dealer or importer if,- .’;

  22. New provisions w.e.f. 1st January, 2018: TABLE-I

  23. New provisions w.e.f. 1st January, 2018: • “7(4) The area not including the top, bottom, flange at top and bottom of cans, and shoulders and neck of bottle and jars shall be determined in the following manner, namely:- • (a) in the case of a rectangular package, where one entire side can properly be considered to be the principal display panel side, the product of the height multiplied by the width of that side; • (b) in case of a cylindrical or nearly cylindrical package, 40 per cent. of the product of the height of the package multiplied by the circumference; • (c) in case of any other shaped package , 40 per cent. of the total surface of the package, or an area considered to be a principal display panel of the package. • (5) Except size of the numbers and letters for declaring net weight, retail sale price, date of expiry or best before or use by date (wherever and as applicable) and consumer care details, the provisions under sub-rules (1) to (4) shall not apply to a package if the information to be specified on such package under this rule is also required to be given by or under any other law for the time being in force.”.

  24. New provisions w.e.f. 1st January, 2018: • In the said rules, in rule 18,- •  “(1A) The wholesale dealer shall be allowed to sell the pre-packaged commodities directly to the industrial and institutional consumers.”. • “(2A) Unless otherwise specifically provided under any other law, no manufacturer or packer or importer shall declare different maximum retail prices on an identical pre-packaged commodity by adopting restrictive trade practices or unfair trade practices as defined under clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (68 of 1986). • Rule 26: • “(c) it contains scheduled formulations and non-scheduled formulations covered under the Drugs (Price Control) Order, 2013 made under section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (10 of 1955): • Provided that no exemption shall be applicable to medical devices declared as drugs.”.

  25. Amendments in PCR (contd.) Effective 1.1.2018 • Goods displayed by the seller on e-commerce platform shall contain declarations required under the Rules. • Specific mention is made in the rules that no person shall declare different MRPs (dual MRP) on an identical pre-packaged commodity. • Size of letters and numerals for making declaration is increased, so that consumer can easily read the same.

  26. Amendments in PCR (contd.) • The net quantity checking is made more scientific. • Bar Code/ QR Coding are allowed on voluntariy basis. • Provisions regarding declarations on Food Products have been harmonized with regulation under the Food Safety & Standards Act. • Medical devices which are declared as drugs brought within the purview of these rules.

  27. Implementation of GST & Revision of MRP • Permission granted to declare the revised sale price (MRP) through stickers, stamping or tags in addition to the existing MRP on stocks manufactured/ packed/ imported up to 31st December, 2018. • Advisories issued to State Legal Metrology officers not to take coercive action for font size upto 31.7.2018.

  28. 1. What is the definition of Principal Display Panel? 2(h) “principal display panel”, in relation to a package, means the total surface area of the package where the information required under these rules are to be given in the following manner, namely:- (i) all the information could be grouped together and given at one place; or (ii) the pre-printed information could be grouped together and given in one place and on line information grouped together in other place;

  29. 2.    Based on the Principal Display Panel, how is the font size calculated (or how is it measured by the implementing authority).

  30. 3. Compounding effect, how is it calculated? Sec 49: (1) Where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company,-- (a) (i) the person, if any, who has been nominated under sub-section (2) to be incharge of, and responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company (hereinafter in this section referred to as a person responsible); or (ii) where no person has been nominated, every person who at the time the offence was committed was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company; and (b) the company, shall be deemed to be guilty ofthe offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly: (4) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing sub-sections, where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to the neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer, not being a person nominated under sub-section (2), such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. The compounding amount is prescribed/ decided as per the penal provisions of the Act.

  31. 4.    For violation, retailer, dealer (whole seller/ distributor/ manufacturer) all are fined. At Rs.25K, the total amount of fine goes above 2lacs, even for a minute matter like rupee symbol missing, country code of +91 in customer care, etc. Is it fair on the Indian toy manufacturer who is already fighting for survival against Chinese onslaught? Section 36:Penalty for selling, etc., of non-standard packages. (1) Whoever manufactures, packs, imports, sells, distributes, delivers or otherwise transfers, offers, exposes or possesses for sale, or causes to be sold, distributed, delivered or otherwise transferred, offered, exposed for sale any pre-packaged commodity which does not conform to the declarations on the package as provided in this Act, shall be punished with fine which may extend to twenty-five thousand rupees, for the second offence, with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees and for the subsequent offence, with fine which shall not be less than fifty thousand rupees but which may extend to one lakh rupees or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with both.   Law does not differentiate the violations.

  32. 5.    Is there a tabulated format on “violation v/s fine”? Are violations categorized? {level ‘A’ (serious), ‘B’ (medium) & ‘C’ (mild)}. Are fines calculated accordingly? Is there a system regarding the same? Yes. The violations and their compounding fee are tabulated. Law does not differentiate the violations and any violation regarding the declarations are considered as violation and dealt in the same manner.

  33. 6.    If a retailer does a violation (puts an additional MRP), why is the manufacturer or the dealer/distributor fined? If the manufacturer or the dealer/distributor proves that the violation is done by the retailer, then only the retailer will be responsible. It may be done by showing the similar packages carrying MRP or other declarations given by the manufacturer/ importer. 7.    If shrink-wrap is used to pack the box, can only address & MRP be put as sticker and the customer care/ etc. be printed? The declarations are required only for retail packages and wholesale packages.

  34. 8.    Many manufacturers have packing that lasts for years, are stickers allowed? If yes, is there a format/ template for the same? The label is defined as follows: Sec. 2(f) "label" means any written, marked, stamped, printed or graphic matter affixed to, or appearing upon any pre-packaged commodity; 9.    Can a manufacturer approach the LM department for approval on a packing, so as to prevent any violation? Does LM dept have any such service? No, LM Department does not have any such service; however, independent legal advice may be taken for the same. 10. Template: Can it be provided/ confirmed by LM dept. for toys. Visual representation is always better. Batter to take independent legal advice for the same.

  35. 11. What print is needed on a master pack/ wholesale pack? Rule24: Declarations to be made on every wholesale package: Every wholesale package shall bear thereon a legible, definite, plain and conspicuous declaration as to – (a) The name and address of the manufacturer or importer or where the manufacturer or importer is not the packer, of the packer; (b) the identity of the commodity contained in the package; and (c ) the total number of retail package contained in such wholesale package or the net quantity in terms of standard units of weights, measures or number of the commodity contained in wholesale package; Provided that nothing in this rule shall apply in relation to a wholesale package if a declaration similar to the declarations specified in this rule, is required to be made on such wholesale packages by or under any other law for the time being in force.

  36. 12. Goods meant for exports, either directly or indirectly, are they exempted from LM law’s? If not, what are the requirements? If yes, are any marking required? Rule25: Restrictions on sale of export packages in India.-An export package shall not be sold in India unless the manufacturer or packer has re-packed or relabeled the commodity in accordance with the provisions contained in Chapter II, and where any export package is sold in India without such re-packing or re-labeling, such package shall be liable to be seized in accordance with the provisions of the Act. 13. Scales for internal use, do they need to be calibrated? License for the same has been done away with.  As per section 24 of the Act all weights and measures used in any transaction or protection are to be verified and stamped at regular interval. However, no weight or measure can be manufactured/ imported with approval of such model from Central Government and sold without verification and stamping.

  37. 14. Can same product be sold at different prices, depending on sales channel? Rule 18(2A): Unless otherwise specifically provided under any other law, no manufacturer or packer or importer shall declare different maximum retail prices on an identical pre-packaged commodity by adopting restrictive trade practices or unfair trade practices as defined under clause (nnn) and clause (r) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (68 of 1986). 15. Is spelling mistake a violation? Eg. Customer Care is written as Customer Car, etc. It may be misinterpretation/ non conformity of declarations because it may not be understand by the consumers. 16. Are short forms allowed? Like Manufactured = Mfg, Maximum Retail Price = MRP or Max. Retail Price, etc. Yes, which may be easily understood like Mfg. month and year, MRP (inclusive of all taxes).

  38. THANK YOU

  39. Government of India Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs Time Dissemination In India FILM

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