Title 3.2, Title 3.2. Agriculture, Animal Care, and Food

The Commissioner shall, on a periodic basis as he deems necessary, 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 the same contain the amounts represented and whether th…

Whenever it appears to the Commissioner that there is a violation of any of the provisions of this chapter, he may, in his discretion, issue and enforce a written or printed stop-sale, stop-use, or stop-removal order against any owner or custodian of any commodity, weight, or mea…

The Commissioner shall approve for use and seal or mark such weights and measures as he finds, upon inspection and test, to be in compliance as specified in § 3.2-5620, and shall reject and mark or tag as "Condemned for Repairs" such weights and measures as he finds, upon inspect…

With respect to the enforcement of this chapter and any other acts dealing with weights and measures that he is, or may be, empowered to enforce, the Commissioner is hereby vested with police powers, and is authorized to arrest any violator of the said acts and to seize for use a…

The governing bodies of the respective counties and cities may appoint a sealer of weights and measures. However, two or more counties may appoint jointly a sealer subject to the approval of the Commissioner. Sealers appointed under this chapter shall hold office for such terms a…

No fee shall be charged by the sealer of weights and measures, or by the county or city, for inspecting, testing, or sealing of weights or measures, except that the governing body of a city or county employing a sealer may, by ordinance, prescribe a schedule of fees for such serv…

The sealer of a city or of a county, and his deputy when acting under his instructions and at his direction, shall have the same powers and shall perform the same duties within the city or the county for which appointed as are granted to and imposed upon the Commissioner by §§ 3.…

The governing body of each city and county for which a sealer has been appointed as provided for by § 3.2-5615 of this chapter shall: (i) procure at the expense of the city or county, as the case may be, such standards of weight and measure and such additional equipment, to be us…

In cities and counties where sealers of weights and measures have been appointed as provided for in this chapter, the Commissioner shall have concurrent authority to enforce the provisions of this chapter. The provisions of this chapter shall be the law throughout the Commonwealt…

The specifications, tolerances, and regulations for commercial weighing and measuring devices, together with amendments thereto, as recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and published in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Handbook 44 a…

Weights and measures that have been rejected or condemned for repair under the authority of the Commissioner, of an inspector, or of a sealer shall remain subject to the control of the rejecting authority until such time as suitable repair or disposition thereof has been made as …

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 by weight, by measure of length or area, or by count. Liquid commodities may be sold by weight, and commod…

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 or exposed for sale, shall bear on the outside of the package a definite, plai…

In addition to the declarations required by § 3.2-5623 of this chapter, 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 selling price of the package, shall bear on the outside…

No commodity in package form shall be so wrapped, nor shall 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 standard of fill as may…

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 a declaration of the basic quantity of contents of the package as is required by law or regulation to appear on the package. Such de…

A. In a point-of-sale system the selling price of a consumer item displayed or offered for sale at retail shall be clearly and conspicuously indicated in Arabic numerals, so as to be readable and understandable by visual inspection, and shall be stamped upon or affixed to the con…

There is hereby established in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Weights and Measures Fund, hereinafter referred to as "the Fund." This Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller. All money designated for inclusion in the Fund or col…

No fees shall be charged for the services of any appointee under this chapter unless such services are special, unusual or noncommercial and rendered by agreement with or at the request of the person served. In the event services be rendered by agreement with or at the request of…

It shall be a violation of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act (§ 59.1-196 et seq.) for a retail merchant to fail to comply with the provisions of § 3.2-5627.

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 tending to mislead or deceive an actual or prospective purchaser. Whenev…

Where a discount for the cash purchase of retail petroleum products is offered, willful failure by any person to pay to the customer the full cash discount as offered shall constitute a violation of this chapter.

A. Upon the request of the Commissioner, the State Air Pollution Control Board may delegate to the Commissioner its authority under Chapter 13 (§ 10.1-1300 et seq.) of Title 10.1, to implement and enforce any provisions of its regulations covering the storage and transfer of petr…

All meat, meat products, poultry (whole or parts), and all seafood except shellfish, offered or exposed for sale, or sold, as food shall be offered or exposed for sale and sold by weight, except for immediate consumption on the premises where sold, or as one of several elements c…

All sales in which the buyer and seller are not both present to witness the measurement of a bulk delivery shall be accompanied by duplicate delivery tickets containing the following information: 1. The name and address of the buyer and seller; 2. The date of delivery; 3. The qua…

The scale house at any livestock auction market, receiving station, packing plant, or other establishment where livestock is regularly bought from producers shall be constructed so that all parties in interest may readily observe the weighing of livestock. The weighbeam or indica…

Type registering weighbeams or automatic weight recorders shall be installed and used with proper tickets for weighing livestock at all livestock auction markets.

When livestock is offered for sale on a weight basis at livestock auction markets on regular sale days, the weights thereof shall be determined on the date of the sale at such auction markets unless otherwise publicly announced at the auction ring at time of sale.

The operator of the livestock auction market shall publicly announce the day and hour when an auction sale of livestock is to begin at least one week in advance of the day of sale so chosen and shall include the time of sale in all information thereafter published concerning the …

Any person engaged, in the sale of items by weight from a self-service bulk display, shall make available a scale for use by his customers and shall upon request provide customer assistance in weighing of all commodities. The scale shall be accurate and maintained in good working…

It shall be unlawful to use the word "cord" or any abbreviation thereof other than to mean the standard as defined in § 3.2-5600 in, or in connection with the purchase or sale of pulpwood, firewood, tanbark, or any forest product customarily measured in cords of any size whatever…

The standard rule for determining the number of board feet in a tree or log in the Commonwealth shall be the "International 1/4 Inch Log Rule." The provisions of this section shall not prevent the buyer and the seller from agreeing that some other unit of measurement shall be use…

Any person who shall hinder or obstruct in any way the Commissioner, his assistant, or any one of the inspectors, or a sealer in the performance of his official duties is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Any person who shall impersonate in any way the Commissioner, his agent, or any one of the inspectors, or a sealer by the use of his seal or a counterfeit of his seal, or in any other manner, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Any person who, by himself or by his servant or agent, or as the servant or agent of another person, performs any one of the acts enumerated in subdivisions 1 through 9 of this section is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor: 1. Use or have in possession for the purpose of using for a…

A. The Commissioner may bring a suit to enjoin the violation of any provision of this chapter, or any regulation made pursuant thereto, in the circuit court of the county or city where the violation occurs, or in the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond if the violation may affe…

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as requiring the Commissioner to report for the institution of proceedings under this chapter, minor violations of this chapter, whenever the Commissioner believes that the public interest will be adequately served in the circumstances b…

For the purposes of this chapter, proof of the existence of a weight or measure or a weighing or measuring device in or about any building, enclosure, stand, or vehicle in which or from which it is shown that buying or selling is commonly carried on, shall, in the absence of conc…

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Certificate of Conformance" means a document issued by the National Type Evaluation Program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the U.S. Department of Commerce based on testing …

The Board may adopt regulations establishing (i) fees for the registration of service agencies and the certification of service technicians; (ii) categories of registration of service agencies and additional requirements for such registration; (iii) categories of certification of…

The Commissioner may establish schedules for the verification of weights or measures standards and calibrating equipment used by service agencies and service technicians.

The Board may delegate to the Commissioner: (i) any authority vested in it under this chapter, except the authority to adopt regulations; and (ii) any authority contained in § 3.2-5646 relating to the assessment of civil penalties.

A. A service agency shall not operate in the Commonwealth without first obtaining registration issued annually by the Commissioner. The application for registration as a service agency or renewal of application shall be made in writing on a form approved by the Commissioner. B. E…

Except as otherwise provided by § 3.2-5705, each service agency shall pay annually a registration fee of $100. All fees collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the state treasury and credited to the Weights and Measures Fund, established by § 3.2-5628.

A. No service agency shall be required to pay a registration fee under the provisions of this chapter if it is: 1. A business employing service technicians to install, place in service, adjust, repair, service, or recondition weights or measures that are owned or operated by the …

Every service agency shall submit any weights or measures standard and calibrating equipment used or to be used by the service agency to the Commissioner for examination and verification, in accordance with a schedule established by the Commissioner. Any weights or measures stand…