–you just might not be getting value for money, GNBS warns

VENDORS have seemingly found a way to beat the system, as according the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS), as many have not been playing by the rules of late.

“We have recorded a decrease in the number of devices submitted for verification during 2017 when compared to 2016,” says GNBS Executive Director, Ms Candelle Walcott-Bostwick.

“We believe that our vendors in particular should convert to the use of the authorised devices, since education on the use of the authorised devices has been conducted over the years at shops, retail outlets and market places,” she told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday at the GNBS office at the Exhibition Complex in Sophia.

Noting that it is illegal to use either the domestic or the imperial scale for commercial purposes, Walcott-Bostwick said that in the case of the former, they are just not durable enough for that, and prone to inaccuracy.

The problem with the imperial scales, on the other hand, is that seeing that they are not verified by the GNBS, it’s hard to determine accuracy.
Said she: “To our consumers, I plead with you not to purchase from vendors using unauthorised devices, as we have been encouraging them to transition to devices using SI units where accuracy can be guaranteed.”

Giving a synopsis of the agency’s performance for the past year, Candelle Walcott-Bostwick told reporters that a total of 29, 390 devices were verified for 2017 and 8,395 surveillance inspections done in all ten of the country’s administrative regions.

Other devices to have been verified within the same period were 1,551 masses, 1968 electricity meters, 551 scales, 1779 petrol meters, 84 tanker wagon compartments, 246 bulk meters, 106 storage tanks, and 131 weighbridges.

In addition, 5,265 compliance inspections were conducted for the 15 categories of products monitored by the GNBS.

Walcott-Bostwick said that the GNBS conducts the verification of measuring devices used in trade twice annually to ensure that consumers get value for money.

She said the reason the Bureau verifies devices used in the petroleum sector is so as to ensure that the measuring devices being used, especially the petrol meters, tanker wagons, storage tanks and bulk meters, are in compliance.

It is for pretty much the same reason, she said, that the weighbridge scales at rice mills are verified.