Title 15 — Commerce and TradeRelease 119-73
§236 Variations from standard permitted; prosecutions; law not applicable to certain barrels
Title 15 › Chapter CHAPTER 6— - WEIGHTS AND MEASURES AND STANDARD TIME › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER VI— - STANDARD BARRELS › § 236
Summary
NIST’s Director sets allowed measurement tolerances, and the Secretary of Commerce must approve them. Local weights-and-measures officers can start prosecutions, but the rules don’t apply to barrels used to pack or ship goods sold only by weight or count.
Full Legal Text
Title 15, §236
Commerce and Trade — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Reasonable variations shall be permitted and tolerance shall be established by rules and regulations made by the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and approved by the Secretary of Commerce. Prosecutions for offenses under this section or section 234 or 235 of this title may be begun upon complaint of local sealers of weights and measures or other officers of the several States and Territories appointed to enforce the laws of the said States or Territories, respectively, relating to weights and measures: Provided, however, That nothing in this section or section 234 and 235 of this title shall apply to barrels used in packing or shipping commodities sold exclusively by weight or numerical count.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Amendments
1988—Pub. L. 100–418 substituted “National Institute of Standards and Technology” for “Bureau of Standards”.
Executive Documents
Transfer of Functions
Functions of all other officers of Department of Commerce and functions of all agencies and employees of such Department, with a few exceptions, transferred to Secretary of Commerce, with power vested in him to authorize their performance or performance of any of his functions by any of such officers, agencies, and employees, by Reorg. Plan No. 5 of 1950, §§ 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1263, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
15 U.S.C. § 236
Title 15 — Commerce and Trade
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73