Oregon § 618.995 - Civil penalties

§ 618.995. Civil penalties

618.995 Civil penalties

GENERAL PROVISIONS

618.010 Definitions. As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:

(1) Advertising or advertisement means any public notice or announcement of commodities for sale, services to be performed, equipment or facilities for hire, or any other thing offered to the public, via publishing or broadcasting media or by signs, banners, posters, handbills, labels or similar devices, for the purpose of inducing, directly or indirectly, the purchase or use of such commodities, services, equipment or facilities.

(2) Commercial or commercially used means any application or use in connection with or related to transactions in which, in exchange for commodities received or services rendered, consideration is given in terms of currency, negotiable instruments, credit, merchandise or any other thing of value.

(3) Commodity means any merchandise, product or substance produced or distributed for sale to, or use by, others.

(4) Commodity in bulk form means any quantity of a commodity that is not a commodity in package form.

(5) Commodity in package form means any quantity of a commodity put up or packaged in any manner in advance of sale, in units suitable for either wholesale or retail sale by weight, volume, measure or count, exclusive, however, of any auxiliary shipping container enclosing packages that individually conform to the requirements of ORS 618.010 to 618.246. An individual item or lot of any commodity not in package form as defined in this subsection, but on which there is marked a selling price based on an established price per unit of weight or of measure, is a commodity in package form.

(6) Department means the State Department of Agriculture.

(7) Director means the Director of Agriculture.

(8) Inspector means any state officer or employee designated by the director as a supervisor of, or an inspector of, weights and measures.

(9) Intrastate commerce means any and all commerce or trade begun, carried on and completed wholly within the limits of this state.

(10) Introduced into intrastate commerce means the time and place at which the first sale and delivery of a commodity is made within this state, the delivery being made either directly to the purchaser or to a common carrier for shipment to the purchaser.

(11) Liquid-fuel measuring device means any meter, pump, tank, gage or apparatus used for volumetrically determining the quantity of any internal combustion engine fuel, liquefied petroleum gas or low-viscosity heating oil.

(12) National Institute of Standards and Technology means the National Institute of Standards and Technology of the Department of Commerce of the United States.

(13) Sale and sell include barter and exchange.

(14) Security seal means a lead-and-wire seal, or similar nonreusable closure, attached to a weighing or measuring instrument or device for protection against undetectable access, removal, adjustment or unauthorized use.

(15) Vehicle means any wheeled conveyance in, upon or by which any property, livestock or commodity is or may be transported or drawn, but does not include railroad rolling stock.

(16) Weighing device means any scale, balance or apparatus used for gravimetrically determining the quantity of any commodity on a discrete or continuous basis.

(17) Weights and measures means all weights and measures, instruments and devices of every kind for weighing and measuring, and any appliances and accessories associated with any or all such instruments and devices. However, weights and measures does not include meters for the measurement of electricity, gas or water when operated in a system of a public utility, as that term is defined in ORS 757.005. [Amended by 1973 c.293 1; 1975 c.615 1; 1977 c.132 3; 1999 c.237 1; 2003 c.14 366; 2005 c.22 413; 2007 c.71 186]

618.016 Policy. It is the express intent and purpose of ORS 618.010 to 618.246 and 618.991 to establish statutory authority for the administration, regulation and enforcement of weights and measures requirements generally within this state. The objectives of state supervision of weights and measures under ORS 618.010 to 618.246 include the following:

(1) Ensuring that weights and measures in commercial service within the state are suitable for their intended use, properly installed and accurate and are so maintained by their owner or user.

(2) Preventing unfair dealing by weight or measure in any commodity or service advertised, packaged, sold or purchased within this state.

(3) Making available to all users of physical standards or weighing and measuring equipment the precision calibration and related metrological certification capabilities of the weights and measures facilities of the State Department of Agriculture.

(4) Promoting uniformity, to the extent such conformance is practicable and desirable, between weights and measures requirements of this state and those of other states and federal agencies.

(5) Encouraging desirable economic growth while protecting the consumer through the adoption by rule of weights and measures requirements as necessary to ensure equity among buyers and sellers. [1973 c.293 3; 2005 c.22 414]

618.021 Duties of director. The Director of Agriculture shall:

(1) Maintain custody of the state standards of weight and measure and of the other standards and equipment provided for by ORS 618.010 to 618.246;

(2) Keep accurate records of all standards and equipment;

(3) Exercise general supervision over the weights and measures sold or offered for sale or in use in this state; and

(4) Report to the Governor annually, and at such other times as the Governor may require, on all of the activities of the director in carrying out ORS 618.010 to 618.246. [1973 c.293 5; 2005 c.22 415]

618.026 Delegation of duties and powers of department and director. Except for rulemaking, the duties and powers of the State Department of Agriculture and the Director of Agriculture pursuant to ORS 618.010 to 618.246 may be delegated at the discretion of the director. [1973 c.293 14; 2005 c.22 416]

618.031 Rulemaking authority. (1) The State Department of Agriculture is authorized to make any rules necessary to carry out ORS 618.010 to 618.246, but in making such rules the department shall consider so far as is practicable and desirable the requirements established by other states and by authority of the United States. Such rules shall govern the use or application of weights and measures and weights and measures transactions in this state.

(2) Such rules may:

(a) Establish standards of net weight, measure or count, and reasonable standards of fill for any commodity in package form;

(b) Establish procedures governing the technical and reporting activities to be followed, and prescribe report and record forms and marks of approval and rejection to be used by inspectors of weights and measures in the discharge of their duties;

(c) Prescribe exemptions for weights and measures from the sealing, labeling or marking requirements of ORS 618.010 to 618.246;

(d) Establish procedures governing the voluntary registration of commercial weighing and measuring device service persons and service agencies;

(e) Establish schedules of fees for licensing commercial weighing and measuring devices and for testing or certification;

(f) Prescribe specifications relating to the advertising, labeling, dispensing and selling of commodities in bulk form to or by retail outlets reasonably necessary for the protection of purchasers thereof;

(g) Establish guidelines to ensure that amounts of commodities or services sold or offered for sale are represented accurately and informatively to all interested parties; and

(h) Prescribe specifications, tolerances and other technical requirements for weights and measures so as to eliminate from use weights and measures:

(A) That are not accurate;

(B) That are of such construction that they are faulty, in that they are not reasonably permanent in their adjustment or will not repeat their indications correctly; or

(C) That facilitate the perpetration of deceit or misrepresentation.

(3) Nothing in subsection (2) of this section is intended to limit the authority of the department to make any other rules necessary to carry out ORS 618.010 to 618.246. [1973 c.293 6; 1975 c.615 2; 1977 c.132 4; 2011 c.9 80]

618.036 Establishing weights and measures system; use of federal system. The State Department of Agriculture may utilize, for all commercial purposes in this state, either that system of weights and measures customarily used in the United States or the metric system of weights and measures. In prescribing the basic units of weight and measure, tables of weight and measure, weight and measure equivalents, specifications, tolerances and other technical requirements for commercial weighing and measuring devices, the department shall recognize those published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and they shall be applicable to weighing and measuring equipment and transactions in this state. [1973 c.293 15; 2003 c.14 367]

618.041 Standards for weights and measures system; security of state primary standard. (1) Standards of weight and measure that are traceable to the United States prototype standards and that are supplied by the federal government or that are otherwise approved as being satisfactory by the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall be the state s primary standards of weight and measure.

(2) The state primary standards shall be kept in a safe and suitable place in the metrology laboratory of the office of weights and measures, and shall not be removed from the laboratory except for repairs or for calibration as may be prescribed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. [1973 c.293 16; 2003 c.14 368]

618.046 Secondary standards; verification of accuracy. The state shall supply secondary standards and such other equipment as is necessary to carry out ORS 618.010 to 618.246. Such standards shall be verified, by comparison with the state primary standards prescribed in ORS 618.041, upon their initial receipt and thereafter as often as the State Department of Agriculture considers necessary. [1973 c.293 17; 2005 c.22 417]