Country Information

While ultimate responsibility for Legal Metrology policy and direction remains with the central government Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the Director of Legal Metrology is charged through legislation with overall implementation functions which rest with the National Standard Authority of Ireland (NSAI).  The NSAI is a non-commercial state owned body with responsibility for standardisation, metrology and certification.

The Metrology Acts 1996-1998 provide for controls on units of measurement, conformity assessment of measuring instruments used in trade and, prepackaged products and loose goods with concurrent sanctions for legislative breaches.  The Acts also provide for the Minister and the Director to make regulations and for the prosecution of offences for legislative breaches. The NSAI inspectorate division, currently comprises 21 staff members, work out of the NSAI headquarters and seven regional centres.

Legal metrology enforcement is funded principally through a mix of government grant and income generated from verfication.

• fuel pumps for petrol and diesel,
• weighing instruments in shops,
• home heating oil meters on delivery tankers,
• weighbridges for vehicles and animals,
• bench scales and industrial platform scales
• overhead track scales
• beltweighers
• automatic checkweighers
• automatic gravimetric fillers
• weigh price labellers
• refuse weighers
• milk meters on collection tankers,
• taximeters,
• intoxicating liquor dispensers,
• capacity measures used in pubs and hotels

National type approval can be provided by legislation for instruments that are not covered by the NAWI directive or MID.  Approval requires the examination and evaluation of the instrument against procedures based on international referenced documents such as OIML recommendations.  Cognisance is taken of existing test reports and certificates under the principal of mutual recognition.  Type approval certificates are available free of charge.  The principal instrument type currently subject to national approval is intoxicating liquor dispensers.

National initial verification is carried out for approved taximeter systems when installed in motor vehicles and for intoxicating liquor instruments subject to national type approval.  Private bodies are permitted to undertake national initial verification through a service concession agreement opened periodically by public tender.  The standard period of appointment is five years.

All controlled instruments are subject to inspection in service for which there is no charge. Errors allowed for measuring instruments in service are detailed in regulations and, except of a few categories, are generally double the tolerances on first use. 
Re-verification is required where an instrument has been repaired or adjusted, normally evident by breaking the official security seal.  Tolerances for reverification are those that apply on first use.

Official prescribed marks, including CE marking and supplementary metrology marking, are used to recoginse the status of instruments in use.

Private bodies are permitted to undertake national reverification through a service concession agreement opened periodically by public tender.  The standard period of appointment is five years.

Inspectors are recruited with technical qualifications in physical science or engineering.  Training is provided for administrative, legal, health and safety during the introductory period and ongoing when fully certified as an inspector.  There is no external formal training course for inspectors in Ireland.

Inspectors duties in addition to techncial and metrological examination of instruments includes investigation and reporting of potential breaches of the Acts and advising traders of their obligations and responsibilities.  Consumers who have doubts or suspicions about measuring instruments or product quantities can report such suspicions for the attention of the inspectorate.

There is no system of administrative penalties for breaches of metrological requirements. Inspectors may issue written notices to traders requiring non-compliant equipment to be corrected within a specified period, up to 28 days.

The Director of Legal Metrology may prosecute for summary offences and the following penalties may be imposed by the courts:

•        Summary conviction: up to €4,000 or 12 months imprisonment or both.
•        Conviction on Indictment:up to €22,200 or 2 years imprisonment or both.

Directive 2014/31/EU on non-automatic weighing instruments is implemented by the European Union (Non-Automatic Weighing Instruments) Regulations 2018 - Statutory Instrument No. 47 of 2018.

Directive 2014/32/EU on measuring instruments  is implemented by the Legal Metrology (Measuring Instruments) Act 2017 and Statutory Instrument No. 2 of 2018 – the Legal Metrology (European Conformity Assessment of Measuring Instruments) Regulations 2018.

Mandatory controls for use in trade are in place for –

• Water Meters
• Gas Meters and Volume Conversion Devices
• Active Electrical Energy Meters
• Measuring Systems for Liquids other than Water, including fuel dispensers and milk meters
• Automatic Weighing Instruments
• Capacity Serving Measures
• Length Measures
• Multidimensional Measuring Instruments
• Taximeters

The Director of Legal Metrology is the appointed market surveillance authority.

Ireland’s gravity values have been identified as:

G Value:

However, these values are not prescribed by legislation.

The Irish implementing regulations do not make it an offence to use an instrument outside of its marked weighing range. No classes are designated for a particular application.