82 FR 61261 - National Conference on Weights and Measures Interim Meeting

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Institute of Standards and Technology

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 247 (December 27, 2017)

The Interim Meeting of the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) will be held in St. Pete Beach, Florida, from Sunday, January 21, 2018, through Wednesday, January 24, 2018. This notice contains information about significant items on the NCWM Committee agendas but does not include all agenda items. As a result, the items are not consecutively numbered.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 247 (Wednesday, December 27, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61261-61263]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-27890]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


National Conference on Weights and Measures Interim Meeting

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Interim Meeting of the National Conference on Weights and 
Measures (NCWM) will be held in St. Pete Beach, Florida, from Sunday, 
January 21, 2018, through Wednesday, January 24, 2018. This notice 
contains information about significant items on the NCWM Committee 
agendas but does not include all agenda items. As a result, the items 
are not consecutively numbered.

DATES: The meeting will be held from Sunday, January 21, 2018, through 
Wednesday, January 24, 2018, on Sunday through Tuesday, from 8:00 a.m. 
to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and on Wednesday, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 
p.m. Eastern Time. The meeting schedule is available at www.ncwm.net.

ADDRESSES: This meeting will be held at the Sirata Beach Resort and 
Conference Center, 5300 Gulf Boulevard, St. Pete Beach, Florida 33706.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Douglas Olson, NIST, Office of 
Weights and Measures, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 2600, Gaithersburg, MD 
20899-2600. You may also contact Dr. Olson at (301) 975-2956 or by 
email at [email protected]. The meeting is open to the public, but 
a paid registration is required. Please see the NCWM website 
(www.ncwm.net) to view the meeting agendas, registration forms, and 
hotel reservation information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Publication of this notice on the NCWM's 
behalf is undertaken as a public service; NIST does not endorse, 
approve, or recommend any of the proposals or other information 
contained in this notice or in the publications produced by the NCWM.
    The NCWM is an organization of weights and measures officials of 
the states, counties, and cities of the United States, and 
representatives from the private sector and federal agencies. These 
meetings bring together government officials and representatives of 
business, industry, trade associations, and consumer organizations on 
subjects related to the field of weights and measures technology, 
administration, and enforcement. NIST participates to encourage 
cooperation between federal agencies and the states in the development 
of legal metrology requirements. NIST also promotes uniformity in state 
laws, regulations, and testing procedures used in the regulatory 
control of commercial weighing and measuring devices, packaged goods, 
and for other trade and commerce issues.
    The NCWM has established multiple committees, task groups, and 
other working bodies to address legal metrology issues of interest to 
regulatory officials, industry, consumers, and others. The following 
are brief descriptions of some of the significant agenda items that 
will be considered by some of the NCWM Committees at the NCWM Interim 
Meeting. Comments will be taken on these and other issues during 
several public comment sessions. At this stage, the items are 
proposals. This meeting also includes work sessions in which the 
Committees may also accept comments, and where recommendations will be 
developed for consideration and possible adoption at the NCWM 2018 
Annual Meeting. The Committees may withdraw or carryover items that 
need additional development.
    These notices are intended to make interested parties aware of 
these development projects and to make them aware that reports on the 
status of the project will be given at the Interim Meeting. The notices 
are also presented to invite the participation of manufacturers, 
experts, consumers, users, and others who may be interested in these 
efforts.
    The Specifications and Tolerances Committee (S&T Committee) will 
consider proposed amendments to NIST Handbook 44, ``Specifications, 
Tolerances, and other Technical Requirements for Weighing and Measuring 
Devices.'' Those items address weighing and measuring devices used in 
commercial applications, that is, devices that are used to buy from or 
sell to the public or used for determining the quantity of products or 
services sold among businesses. Issues on the agenda of the NCWM Laws 
and Regulations Committee (L&R Committee) relate to proposals to amend 
NIST Handbook 130, ``Uniform Laws and Regulations in the area of Legal 
Metrology and Engine Fuel Quality'' and NIST Handbook 133, ``Checking 
the Net Contents of Packaged Goods.''

NCWM S&T Committee

    The following items are proposals to amend NIST Handbook 44:

GEN--General Code

Item GEN-3 G-A.1. Commercial and Law-Enforcement Equipment and G-S.2. 
Facilitation of Fraud
    These paragraphs currently specify that all weighing and measuring 
equipment and all mechanisms, software, and devices that are attached 
or used in conjunction therewith must be designed, constructed, 
assembled, and installed for use so that they do not facilitate the 
perpetration of fraud.
    The S&T Committee will consider a proposal that would expand the 
application of paragraph G-A.1. Commercial and Law-Enforcement 
Equipment to include accessory equipment that can be used to defraud or 
collect unauthorized personal or financial information from a user 
(e.g., credit/debit card ``skimmers). The proposal would also expand 
paragraph G-S.2. Facilitation of Fraud by requiring credit/debit card 
readers and other devices capable of customer initiated electronic 
financial transactions that are used in conjunction with weighing and 
measuring equipment to: (1) Be designed and constructed to restrict 
access and tampering by unauthorized persons; and (2) include an event 
counter that records the date and time of access.

SCL--Scales

Item SCL-6 S.1.2.2.3. Deactivation of a ``d'' Resolution
    In 2017, the NCWM adopted a proposal requiring the value of the 
scale division (d) and verification scale interval (e) to be equal on 
Class I and Class II scales installed into commercial service as of 
January 1, 2020, when used in a direct sale application (i.e., both 
parties of a weighing transaction are present when the quantity is 
determined). The S&T Committee will now consider a new proposal that, 
if adopted, would prohibit the deactivation of a ``d'' resolution on a 
Class I or II scale equipped with a value of ``d'' that differs from 
``e'' if by such action it causes the scale to round improperly.
Item SCL-7 S.1.8.5. Recorded Representations, Point of Sale Systems
    The S&T Committee will consider a proposal requiring additional 
sales information to be recorded by cash

[[Page 61262]]

registers interfaced with a weighing element for items that are weighed 
at a checkout stand. These systems are currently required to record the 
net weight, unit price, total price, and the product class, or in a 
system equipped with price look-up capability, the product name or code 
number. The change proposed would add ``tare weight'' to the list of 
sales information currently required. This change has been proposed as 
a nonretroactive requirement with an enforcement date of January 1, 
2020, which means if the proposal is adopted, the additional 
information (i.e., the tare weight) would be required to appear on the 
sales receipt for items weighed at a checkout stand (Point of Sale 
Systems) on equipment installed into commercial service as of January 
1, 2020. This proposed change would not affect equipment already in 
service.
Item SCL-8 Sections Throughout the Code To Include Provisions for 
Commercial Weigh-In-Motion Vehicle Scale Systems
    The S&T Committee will consider a proposal drafted by the NCWM's 
Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) Task Group (TG) to amend various sections of the 
NIST Handbook 44, Scales Code to address WIM vehicle scale systems used 
for commercial applications. The TG is made up of representatives of 
WIM equipment manufacturers, the U.S. Department of Transportation 
Federal Highway Administration, NIST Office of Weights and Measures, 
truck weight enforcement agencies, state weights and measures agencies, 
and others.
    The WIM TG was first formed in February 2016 to consider a proposal 
to expand the NIST Handbook 44, Weigh-In-Motion Systems Used for 
Vehicle Enforcement Screening--Tentative Code to also apply to legal-
for-trade (commercial) and law enforcement applications. Members of the 
TG agreed during their first face-to-face meeting at the 2016 NCWM 
Annual Meeting to eliminate from the proposal any mention of a law 
enforcement application and focus solely on WIM vehicle scale systems 
intended for use in commercial applications. Members of the TG later 
agreed that commercial application WIM vehicle scale systems should be 
addressed by the Scales Code of NIST Handbook 44, rather than the 
Weigh-In-Motion Systems Used for Vehicle Enforcement Screening--
Tentative Code.
    The focus of the TG since July 2016 has been to concentrate on the 
development of test procedures that can be used to verify the accuracy 
of a WIM vehicle scale system given the different axle and tandem axle 
configurations of vehicles that will typically be weighed by a system 
and a proposed maintenance and acceptance tolerance of 0.2 percent on 
gross (total) vehicle weight. Members of the TG, to date, have been 
unsuccessful in agreeing on test procedures, and, as a result, the TG 
recently developed a ``White Paper'' during the summer of 2017, which 
it distributed to the different regional weights and measures 
associations requesting feedback from their fall 2017 conferences on 
some different draft test procedures being considered and some other 
concerns.

Liquefied Petroleum Gas and Anhydrous Ammonia Liquid-Measuring Devices

Item LPG-3 S.2.5. Zero-Setback Interlock, Stationary and Vehicle 
Mounted Meters, Electroinic
    The S&T Committee will consider a proposal to add a new 
nonretroactive paragraph (effective date yet to be determined) that 
requires both stationary and vehicle mounted electronic LPG and 
anhydrous ammonia liquid-measuring devices be designed with an 
automatic interlock system that must engage following completion of a 
delivery. The proposal specifies that the interlock system must prevent 
a subsequent delivery from occurring until such time the indicating 
elements and recording elements, if so equipped, have been reset to 
zero. The proposal also requires the automatic interlock system to 
activate within three minutes of product flow cessation and that this 
``timeout'' feature be sealable at the indicator.

Block 4, Items (B4) Terminology for Testing Standards and Block 5, 
Items (B5) Define ``Field Reference Standard''

    Block 4 Items (B4) and Block 5 Items (B5) include all of the 
following items:
B4: Item SCL-4 N.2. Verification (Testing) Standards [Scales Code]

B4: Item ABW-1 N.2. Verification (Testing) Standards [Automatic Bulk 
Weighing Systems]

B4: Item AWS-1 N.1.3. Verification (Testing) Standards, N.3.1. Official 
Tests; UR.4. Testing Standards [Automatic Weighing Systems]

B4: Item CLM-1 N.3.2. Transfer Standard Test; T.3. On Tests Using 
Transfer Standards [Cryogenic Liquid-Measuring Devices]

B4: Item CDL-1 N.3.2. Transfer Standard Test; T.3. On Tests Using 
Transfer Standards [Carbon Dioxide Liquid-Measuring Devices]

B4: Item HGM-1 N.4.1. Master Meter (Transfer) Standard Test; T.4. 
Tolerance Application on Test Using Transfer Standard Test Method 
[Hyrdogen Gas-Metering Devices]

B4: Item GGM-1 Section 5.56.(a) [Grain-Moisture Meters ``a''] N.1.1. 
Air Oven Reference Method Transfer Standards, N.1.3. Meter to Like-Type 
Meer Method Transfer Standards, and Section 5.56.(b) [Grain-Moisture 
Meters ``b''] N.1.1. Transfer Standards, T. Tolerances

B4: Item LVS-1 N.2. Testing Standards [Electronic Livestock, Meat, and 
Poultry Evaluation Systems and/or Devices]

B4: Item OTH-2 Appendix A--Fundamental Considerations, 3.2. Tolerances 
for Standards; 3.3. Accuracy of Standards

B4: Item OTH-3 Appendix D--Definitions: fifth-wheel, official grain 
samples, transfer standard; standard, field

B5: Item CLM-2 N.3.2. Transfer Standard Test; T.3. On Tests Using 
Transfer Standards [Cryogentic Liquid-Measuring Devices]

B5: Item CDL-2 N.3.2. Transfer Standard Test; T.3. On Tests Using 
Transfer Standards [Carbon Dioxide Liquid-Measuirng Devices]

B5: Item HGM-2 N.4.1. Master Meter (Transfer) Standard Test; T.4. 
Tolerance Application on Test Using Transfer Standard Test Method 
[Hydrogen Gas Metering-Systems]

B5: Item OTH-4 Appendix D--Definitions: field reference, standard 
meter; transfer standard
    Block 4 and Block 5 items are considered related agenda items, and 
it

[[Page 61263]]

is likely the S&T Committee will take comments at the 2018 NCWM Interim 
Meeting on these two groups of items at the same time. These two groups 
of items are intended to: (1) Make clear the qualifying conditions in 
which a standard intended for use in testing (i.e., evaluating the 
performance of) a commercial weighing or measuring device or system can 
be used to conduct an official test; and (2) harmonize the terminology 
used to identify a suitable test standard in each of the Handbook 44 
codes.

NCWM L&R Committee

    The following items are proposals to amend NIST Handbook 130 or 
NIST Handbook 133:

NIST Handbook 130--Section on Uniform Regulation for the Method of Sale 
of Commodities

Item MOS-10 Section 2.XX. Pet Treats or Chews
    The L&R Committee is recommending adoption of a uniform method of 
sale for Pet Treats or Chews. If adopted, the proposal will require 
sellers to follow labeling guidance under the Food and Drug 
Administration and 21 CFR 501, which defines these types of products 
that shall be sold by weight. This will also allow consumers to make a 
value comparison for similar like items.

NIST Handbook 133--``Checking the Net Contents of Packaged Goods''

Item NET-4 Section 4.XX. Plywood and Wood-Based Structural Panels
    Currently, there is no test procedure in NIST Handbook 133 for 
Plywood and Wood-Based Structural Panels. This item will provide a test 
procedure for these products that follows good measuring practices for 
products sold by linear measure. The L&R Committee is seeking further 
comment and is recommending this test procedure be considered for 
addition to the handbook.

    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 272(b).

Kevin Kimball,
NIST Chief of Staff.
[FR Doc. 2017-27890 Filed 12-26-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-13-P