2013 Maryland Code
AGRICULTURE
§ 11-203 - Regulations; specifications, tolerances, and technical requirements for commercial weighing and measuring devices; correct weight and measure

§11-203.

(a) To enforce this title the Secretary may adopt regulations relating to:

(1) Standards of net weight, measure, or count, reasonable standards of fill, and labeling requirements, for any commodity in package form;

(2) Exemptions from the sealing or marking requirements of § 11-207 of this subtitle with respect to weights and measures whose character or size makes sealing or marking inappropriate, not feasible, or damaging to the weight and measure;

(3) Registration of servicemen and service agencies engaged in the maintenance and repair of weighing and measuring devices;

(4) The types of commodities and objects to be weighed by licensed weighmasters; and

(5) The types of weighing devices requiring operation by a licensed weighmaster, the licensing of weighmasters and applicants’ licensing fees, the maintenance of weight records, and inspection of weight records by the Secretary.

(b) The Secretary shall adopt regulations, specifications, tolerances, and other technical requirements for weights and measures of the character of those specified in § 11-204 of this subtitle designed to eliminate from use, without prejudice to any weight and measure that conforms as closely as feasible to the official standards, those that:

(1) Are not accurate;

(2) Are constructed so that they are not reasonably permanent in their adjustment or do not repeat their indications correctly; or

(3) Facilitate the perpetration of fraud.

(c) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, the specifications, tolerances, and other technical requirements for commercial weighing and measuring devices, specified in § 11-204 of this subtitle, shall be those adopted by the National Conference on Weights and Measures and included in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Handbook 44, as amended. These specifications, tolerances, and other technical requirements shall remain in effect unless modified or rescinded by a regulation adopted by the Secretary.

(2) Nothing in the specifications, tolerances, and other technical requirements for commercial weighing and measuring devices adopted by the National Conference on Weights and Measures and included in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Handbook 44 prevents a person from using a commercial vehicle scale to measure minimum loads of less than 1,000 pounds on the vehicle.

(d) For the purposes of this title, a weight and measure is correct when it conforms to all applicable requirements promulgated as specified in this section. A nonconforming weight and measure is incorrect.