Three Tips for Staying Within the Law When Weighing Goods
At Marsden, we welcome and encourage businesses to get in touch with us, so we can best advise solutions to your weighing needs.
We try to cater to every need. Our platform scales, for example, are used in a range of industries.
Not only this but we also want to help your business to be able to stay on top of developments in the law, particularly if it could directly affect your day to day operations.
When the SOLAS regulations were introduced in July, we published a number of helpful resources, like this summary of the regulations, in order to help the companies affected best prepare.
But SOLAS isn’t the only weighing regulation which you need to know. The sector may change, but there are some common rules that apply to weighing. Whether you're selling to a set weight, buying based on weight or declaring the weight of your goods for transportation, there are some key laws concerning weigh that you should know. These are the top three that every business should be aware of.
Always weigh in metric
Goods which are sold in England, Scotland or Wales must be weighed in metric (grams and kilograms).
Though this rule has exceptions. Like draught beer or milk is still measured in imperial pints. Precious metals are weighed in ounces.
Marsden scales therefore weigh in metric by default, but many scales – like the new Jadever JCO - is unit switchable, so you can still measure in pounds and ounces.
You can put the imperial measurement on your packaging, but the metric measure should stand out more.
Click here for further reading.
Specified quantities
Some goods can only be sold in fixed quantities.
Solid fuel, when sold loose for example, can only be sold in quantities of 25kg, 50kg and multiples of 50kg from then on.
To help ensure an accurate weighing and meet these regulations, Marsden platform scales have graduations to 0.2kg for pinpoint accuracy.
Match the label
Goods that are packaged should fit either the minimum weight system or the average weight system.
The minimum system states that the packaged goods should contain at least the weight stated on the label.
The average system can also be used and requires the packer to meet the ‘three packers rule’:
- The weight of the package must be no less than the weight of the label, on average.
- Only a small number can fall below a certain margin of error.
- The whole package cannot be underweight by more than twice this margin of error.
If the average weight system is adopted, the company is required to keep a written record of results, so that Trading Standards can ensure these regulations are being followed.
To help this, Marsden have several platform scales available with data transfer capability. The Mild Steel Platform Scale with the JIK indicator can be connected to a Marsden printer for a permanent record of results or to print a sticky label. Alternatively, the RS-232 options on scales means that the scale can be connected to a computer, and populate a spreadsheet or database.
It is important that the package is labelled clearly with the accurate weight data.
More information on the law of weight data on packaging can be found here.
If you have any questions, the Marsden team are always happy to help. Get in touch with us on 01709 364296 or contact us here.