Title 09, Title 09: Commerce and Trade

§ 2635. General testing (a) When not otherwise provided by law, the Secretary may inspect and test, to ascertain if they are correct, all weights and measures kept, offered, or exposed for sale. The Secretary shall, within a 12-month period, or more or less frequently as deemed n…

§ 2636. Investigations The Secretary shall investigate complaints made to him or her concerning violations of this chapter, and shall, upon his or her own initiative, conduct such investigations as he or she deems appropriate and advisable to develop information on prevailing pro…

§ 2637. Inspection of packages The Secretary shall, from time to time, weigh or measure and inspect packages or amounts of commodities kept, offered, or exposed for sale, sold, or in the process of delivery, to determine whether they contain the amounts represented and whether th…

§ 2638. Stop-use, stop-removal, and removal orders The Secretary may issue stop-use orders, stop-removal orders, and removal orders with respect to weights and measures being, or susceptible of being, commercially used, and issue stop-removal orders and removal orders with respec…

§ 2639. Disposition of correct and incorrect apparatus The Secretary shall approve for use and seal or mark with appropriate devices such weights and measures as he or she finds upon inspection and test to be “correct” as defined in section 2633 of this title, and shall reject an…

§ 2640. Police powers; right of entry and stoppage With respect to the enforcement of this chapter and any other laws dealing with weights and measures that he or she is, or may be, empowered to enforce, the Secretary is vested with full police powers, and may arrest, without for…

§ 2641. Powers and duties of inspector The powers and duties given to the Secretary by sections 2634-2640 and 2767 of this title are also given to and imposed upon the inspectors when acting under the instructions and at the direction of the Secretary. (Added 1967, No. 102, § 16,…

§ 2642. Duty of owners of incorrect apparatus Weights and measures that have been rejected under the authority of the Secretary or of an inspector shall remain subject to the control of the rejecting authority until such time as suitable repair or disposition thereof has been mad…

§ 2643. Licenses; inspections; penalties (a) No person shall operate a retail point-of-sale laser scanning check-out system with more than two point-of-sale scanning points without first obtaining a license from the Secretary. (1) The Secretary may issue a license without first t…

§ 2651. Definitions As used in this chapter, the following words and phrases have the following meanings: (1) “Commodity in package form” means commodity put up or packaged in any manner in advance of sale in units suitable for either wholesale or retail sale, exclusive, however,…

§ 2652. Systems of weights and measures The system of weights and measures in customary use in the United States and the metric system of weights and measures are jointly recognized, and either one or both of these systems shall be used for all commercial purposes in the State of…

§ 2653. State standards of weight and measure Such weights and measures in conformity with the standards of the United States as have been supplied to the State by the federal government or otherwise obtained by the State for use as State standards shall, when they have been cert…

§ 2654. Field standards and equipment In addition to the State standards provided for in section 2653 of this title, there shall be supplied by the State such “field standards” and such equipment as may be found necessary to carry out the provisions of this title. The field stand…

§ 2655. Construction of contracts Fractional parts of any unit of weight or measure shall mean like fractional parts of the value of such unit as prescribed or defined in sections 2651 and 2652 of this title, and all contracts concerning the sale of commodities and services shall…

§ 2671. Method of sale of commodities; general Commodities in liquid form shall be sold only by liquid measure or by weight, and, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, commodities not in liquid form shall be sold only by weight, by measure of length or area, or by count. …

§ 2672. Packages, declarations of quantity and origin; variations; exemptions (a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, any commodity in package form introduced or delivered for introduction into or received in intrastate commerce, kept for the purpose of sale, or offered…

§ 2673. Declarations of unit price on random packages In addition to the declarations required by section 2672 of this title, any commodity in package form, the package being one of a lot containing random weights, measures, or counts of the same commodity and bearing the total s…

§ 2674. Misleading packages No commodity in package form may be so wrapped, nor may it be in a container so made, formed, or filled as to mislead the purchaser as to the quantity of the contents of the package, and the contents of a container shall not fall below such reasonable …

§ 2675. Advertising packages for sale Whenever a commodity in package form is advertised in any manner and the retail price of the package is stated in the advertisement, there shall be closely and conspicuously associated with that statement of price a declaration of the basic q…

§ 2676. Sale by net weight The word “weight” as used in this chapter in connection with any commodity shall mean net weight. Whenever any commodity is sold on the basis of weight, the net weight of the commodity shall be employed, and all contracts concerning commodities shall be…

§ 2677. Misrepresentation of price Whenever any commodity or service is sold, or is offered, exposed, or advertised for sale, by weight, measure, or count, the price shall not be misrepresented, nor shall the price be represented in any manner calculated or tending to mislead or …

§ 2691. Meat, poultry, and seafood Except for immediate consumption on the premises where sold or as one of several elements comprising a ready-to-eat meal sold by an eating establishment as a unit for consumption elsewhere than on the premises where sold, all meat, meat products…

§ 2692. Bulk milk tanks (a) When installing a farm bulk tank or reconstructing a floor area supporting a bulk tank, the tank shall not be placed in service and used as a commercial measuring device unless a foundation has been constructed with due consideration of frost penetrati…

§ 2693. Log measure—The Vermont rule In bargains for or purchase of saw logs or round timber by measure, the number of feet shall be ascertained either by the international log rule as designed by the U.S. Forestry Service for a one-quarter inch kerf or by the Vermont rule as fol…

§ 2695. Fluid dairy products All fluid dairy products, including whole milk, skimmed milk, cultured milk, sweet cream, and buttermilk, shall be packaged for retail sale only in units of 1 gill, 1/2 liquid pint, 10 fluid ounces, 1 liquid pint, 1 liquid quart, 1/2 gallon, 1 gallon,…

§ 2696. Flour, corn meal, and hominy grits When in package form, and when packed, kept, offered or exposed for sale, or sold, wheat flour, whole wheat flour, graham flour, self-rising wheat flour, phosphated wheat flour, bromated flour, enriched flour, enriched self-rising flour,…

§ 2697. Liquid fuels (a) Liquid fuels including motor fuels, furnace oils, stove oils, liquefied petroleum gas, and other liquid fuels used for similar purposes shall be sold by liquid measure or by net weight in accordance with the provisions of section 2671 of this title. In th…

§ 2697a. Motor fuel octane content and quality (a) It shall be unlawful for a person to misrepresent the octane content or the quality of motor fuel sold or offered for sale in this State. The Secretary may randomly test motor fuel dispensers and motor fuel for the accuracy of an…

§ 2698. Textile products A person shall not keep for the purpose of sale, offer or expose for sale, or sell, any textile yard goods put up or packaged in advance of sale in a bolt or roll, or any other textile product put up or packaged in advance of sale in any other unit, for e…

§ 2699. Berries and small fruits Berries and small fruits shall be offered and exposed for sale and sold by weight, or by measure in open containers having capacities of 1/2 dry pint, 1 dry pint, or 1 dry quart. However, the marking provisions of section 2672 of this title shall …

§ 2700. Coal, coke, and charcoal All coal, coke, and charcoal shall be sold by weight. Unless the fuel is delivered to the purchaser in package form, each delivery of coal, coke, or charcoal to an individual purchaser shall be accompanied by duplicate delivery tickets on which, i…

§ 2701. Ice Ice shall be sold by weight. The net weight of ice dispensed by a vending machine shall be presented clearly and conspicuously on the front panel near coin slot. This section shall not apply to ice sold by hotels or motels and to be consumed on the premises. (Added 19…

§ 2721. Licensed public weighmaster—license Any person who is 18 years of age or older wishing to be a licensed public weighmaster shall apply to the Secretary upon forms provided by the Agency and remit a fee of $25.00. Upon approval, the Secretary shall issue to the applicant a…

§ 2722. Optional licensing The following persons shall not be required, but shall be permitted, to obtain licenses as licensed public weighmasters: (1) law enforcement officers when acting within the scope of their official duties, (2) a person weighing property, produce, commodi…

§ 2723. Suspension and revocation of license The Secretary may suspend or revoke the license of any licensed public weighmaster: (1) when he or she is satisfied, after a hearing upon 20 days’ notice to the licensee, that the licensee has violated any provision of this chapter or …

§ 2724. Prohibited acts No person may assume the title licensed public weighmaster, or any title of similar import, perform the duties or acts to be performed by a licensed public weighmaster under this chapter, hold himself or herself out as a licensed public weighmaster, issue …

§ 2725. Dealers and service persons of weighing and measuring devices; registration certificate; hand seal (a) Any person wishing to be registered as a dealer or service person shall apply to the Secretary upon forms provided by the Agency, and each application shall be accompani…

§ 2726. Suspension or revocation of certificate The Secretary may suspend or revoke the certificate of any registered dealer or service person when he or she is satisfied after a hearing, upon 20 days’ notice to the registrant, that the registrant has violated any provision of th…

§ 2727. Placed in service report The Secretary shall furnish each registered dealer and service person with a supply of report forms to be known as “placed in service reports.” Such a form shall be executed in triplicate, shall include the assigned registration number, and shall …

§ 2728. Disposition of condemned devices A dealer or service person who accepts weighing or measuring devices, which have been condemned by the Secretary or inspector, in trade for new or used weighing or measuring devices, and which are intended to be dismantled or destroyed, up…

§ 2729. Calibration of testing equipment; certificate A dealer or service person shall submit his or her testing equipment at least once every year to the office of the Secretary for comparison and calibration with the standard maintained by the Secretary. After comparison and ca…

§ 2730. Licensing for operation of weighing and measuring devices (a) As used in this section: (1) “Secretary” means the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets. (2) “Capacity” means, for a scale, the heaviest specified load that can be applied to the load-receiving element of…

§ 2741. Weight certificate; required entries The weight certificate shall be typed, made out in ink or other indelible substance, and shall state the date of issuance; the kind of property, produce, commodity, or article weighed; the name of the declared owner or agent of the own…

§ 2742. Execution; requirements A licensed public weighmaster shall not enter on a weight certificate issued by him or her any weight values but such as he or she has personally determined, and he or she shall make no entries on a weight certificate issued by some other person. A…

§ 2743. Scale used; type; test When making a weight determination as provided by this chapter, a licensed public weighmaster shall use a weighing device that is of a type suitable for the weighing of the amount and kind of material to be weighed and that has been tested and appro…

§ 2744. Capacity; platform size; one-draft weighing A licensed public weighmaster shall not use any scale to weigh a load the value of which exceeds the nominal or rated capacity of the scale. When the gross or tare weight of any vehicle or combination of vehicles is to be determ…