The use of Inaccurate Can Liner Thickness and Weight Labels onNon-Consumer Product for Sale

Label Confusion(What am I paying for?)

Background

• The Roles of:o The National Conference on Weights and

Measures (NCWM).o National Institute of Standards and

Technology (NIST)o State and Local Weights and Measures

Officials

National Conference on Weights & Measures (NCWM)

• Develop Standards for regulatory agencies of states, counties and cities.

• Foster uniformity in weights and measures requirements to facilitate trade.

• Forum for collaboration of government officials, business groups, and consumers to discuss subjects relative to weights and measures.

• Recommend laws and regulations, technical codes for weights and measures used in commerce, test methods, enforcement procedures and administrative guide lines.

• 15 U.S. Code Chapter 7, sec 272– Cooperate with States in Securing Uniformity in Weights and

Measures Laws and Methods of Inspection

– Cooperate with the Federal Government, Industry, States, and Local Governments in establishing standard practices, codes, specifications.

– Advise Government and industry on scientific and technical problems

– To Provide United States industry, Government, and educational institutions with a national clearinghouse of current information, techniques, and advice

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

• Enforce– States rely on NCWM Weights and Measures Law to enact

comprehensive weights and measures legislation

– Prevent unfair or deceptive dealing by weight or measure in any commodity….advertised, packaged, sold or purchased within the state.

– Encourage economic growth while protecting the consumer through the adoption by rule of weights and measures requirements as necessary to assure equity among buyers and sellers.

State and Local Weights and Measures Officials

Section 13. Special Police PowersWhen necessary for the enforcement of this Act or regulations promulgated pursuant thereto, the Director is:

a) Authorized to enter any commercial premises during normal business hours, except that in the event such premises are not open to the public, he/she shall first present his/her credentials and obtain consent before making entry thereto, unless a search warrant has previously been obtained.

b) Empowered to issue stop use, hold, and removal orders with respect to any weights and measures commercially used, stop sale, hold, and removal orders with respect to any packaged commodities or bulk commodities kept, offered, or exposed for sale.

c) Empowered to seize, for use as evidence, without formal warrant, any incorrect or unapproved weight, measure, package, or commodity found to be used, retained, offered, or exposed for sale or sold in violation of the provisions of this Act or regulations promulgated pursuant thereto.

d) Empowered to stop any commercial vehicle and, after presentation of his credentials, inspect the contents, require the person in charge of that vehicle to produce any documents in his possession concerning the contents, and require him to proceed with the vehicle to some specified place for inspection.

e) With respect to the enforcement of this Act, the Director is hereby vested with special police powers, and is authorized to arrest, without formal warrant, any violator of this Act.

State and Local Weights and Measures Officials

• Every person violating any of the provisions of this chapter, or of any other law the enforcement of which is within the jurisdiction of the department shall, except where other penalties are hereinafter prescribed, be subject to a penalty in the sum of not more than six hundred dollars for the first violation, nor more than one thousand two hundred dollars for the second and each subsequent violation and provided further, however, that for a violation of subdivision thirteen of section two hundred of this chapter, the minimum penalty shall be five hundred dollars and the maximum penalty shall be one thousand dollars and that for the second and subsequent offenses such person may also be subject to an administrative order suspending the manufacture and/or sale of such confectionery for a period of time up to three months for each such violation.

• When the violation consists of the sale, or the offering or exposing for sale or exchange of any prohibited article or substance, the sale of each one of several packages shall constitute a separate violation, and each day on which any such article or substance is offered or exposed for sale or exchange shall constitute a separate violation.

One truck of can liners found to be in violation could result in over $2.8 million in fines (assumes 2,822 cases per truck with fine of

$1,200 per case)

New York Penalty Examples

What is Required

213.4 Declaration of Weight – The labeled statement of weight for polyethylene sheeting and film products under section 2.13.1.1. Sheeting and film, and 2.13.3.1. Bags, shall be equal to r greater than the weight calculated by using the formula below. The final value shall be calculated to four digits, and declared to three digits, dropping the final digit as calculated (for example, if the calculated value is 2.078 lb, then the declared net weight shall be 2.07 lb.

For inch-pound dimensions:

W = T x A x 0.03613 x D, where:

W= net weight in poundsT = nominal thickness in inchesA = nominal length in inches times nominal width* in inchesD = density in grams per cubic centimeter as determined by ASTM Standard D1505 68, Standard Method of Test for Density of Plastics by the Density Gradient Technique (or latest issue); and 0.03613 is a factor for converting g/cm3 to lb/in3

For the purpose of this regulation, the minimum density shall be 0.92 g/cm3.*Note 6, page 123

What is Required

10.8.1. General. – Commodities designated and sold at retail to be used as containers for other materials or objects, such as bags, cups, boxes, and pans, shall be labeled with the declaration of net quantity as follows:

a) For bag-type commodities, in terms of count followed by linear dimensions of the bag (whether packaged in a perforated roll or otherwise). The linear dimensions shall be expressed:

1) In SI units: in millimeters or centimeters, except that a dimension of 1 meter or more will be expressed in meters with the remainder in terms of decimal fractions of the meter, and

2) In inch-pound units: in inches, except that a dimension of 2 ft or more will be expressed in feet with any remainder in terms of inches or common or decimal fractions of the foot.

What is Required

Next Steps

• Business Risk vs Reward is high

• Have properly labeled Can Liners

• Ensure the label on the case calculates to the NIST 130 net weight

• Ensure the actual weight of the case matches the NIST calculated weight on the label