THE Guyana Bureau of Standards (GNBS) is in the process of addressing the revision of the Weights and Measures Act, which would see the upgrading of fines and penalties which are currently very nominal. The revision was approved and the person to deal with it has already been identified, Head of the Legal Metrology and Standards Compliance Department, Shailendra Rai, revealed at a press conference yesterday called to update the public on the progress and challenges of the weights and measures programme.
He hosted the meeting at GNBS office, Sophia, Greater Georgetown, along with Public Relations Officer, Lloyd David.
According to Rai, GNBS does not believe in prosecuting people in the courts, as it’s time-wasting.
“So we try to work with the stakeholders to get them to cooperate with us; but in extreme cases, we would prosecute,” he said.
He said the officers at GNBS are challenged when vendors and shop keepers do not cooperate by submitting their devices for verification. But, when they do submit, some of the devices are untidy and in a bad condition.
The GNBS has been experiencing severe difficulties in that there are still persons, primarily in the retail sector, using unapproved devices to conduct commercial trade.
“We cannot limit the types of scales that are imported into Guyana, because there are those that are imported for domestic use. But vendors and shop-keepers are purchasing domestic scales to be used for commercial trade. And when that happens, the consumers are cheated because the internal mechanism of the scale becomes weak…they are not designed for commercial use,” he explained.
Resulting from verification exercises conducted in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10, a total of 392 scales, 1,032 masses and 200 electricity meters, were initially verified, and 3,023 scales, 6,815 masses, and 1 measure were subsequently verified during the quarter.
In addition, a total of 771 petrol pumps, 66 bulk meters, 25 storage tanks, and 54 wagon compartments were verified, of which 197 petrol pumps were calibrated, since they were out of tolerance.
Further, a total of 48 weigh-bridge scales were used in various industries and rice mills were verified.
During the first quarter of 2012, emphasis was placed primarily on the verification of weighing and measuring devices used at shops, markets, supermarkets, hospitals, clinics, health centres, airlines, post offices, rice mills, fisheries, shipping agencies, fuel service stations, etc, in order to ensure the accuracy of devices.
During the next quarter, inspectors of the GNBS will commence surveillance inspections at sales outlets to seize and remove illegal devices and devices that were not verified during the first quarter of the year.