Weights and Measures (Northern Ireland) Order 1981

Provisions supplementary to Article 10 N.I.

11.—(1) A certificate of approval under Article 10—

(a) shall, unless previously revoked and subject to sub-paragraph (b), cease to have effect on the expiration of the period of ten years beginning with the date when it was granted or last renewed;

(b) may, without prejudice to the generality of Article 10(3), be granted or renewed subject to a condition under which it ceases to be in force on the expiration of a specified period of less than ten years; and

(c) may be renewed by the Department on an application made in such manner and during such period as may be prescribed and on payment of an amount ascertained in such manner as the Department may determine with the approval of the Department of Finance.

(2) Where such an application as is mentioned in paragraph (1)(c) is made for the renewal of a certificate mentioned in that paragraph, the certificate shall continue in force until the Department gives to the applicant, in such manner as may be prescribed, notice of the Department's decision with respect to the application.

(3) Where a person submits a pattern of equipment to the Department under Article 10(1) the Department may—

(a) require the person to provide such assistance as the Department thinks fit in connection with the examination in question and shall not be obliged to proceed with the examination until the person provides it;

(b) require the person to pay in respect of the examination a fee of an amount ascertained as mentioned in paragraph (1)( c);

(c) if satisfied that equipment of that pattern is suitable for use for trade require the person to deposit with the Department parts of equipment of that pattern or a model or drawings of such equipment or parts of it and withhold a certificate of approval of the pattern or, as the case may be, a declaration in pursuance of Article 12(2) in respect of the pattern until the person complies with the requirement.

(4) Where a certificate of approval under Article 10(1) ceases to have effect by the effluxion of time or by virtue of a notice under paragraph (2) of this Article or is revoked in a case falling within Article 10(5), then—

(a) the certificate shall continue in force in relation to any equipment of the pattern in question which was used for trade at a time when the certificate was in force otherwise than by virtue of this paragraph; but

(b) if a person—

(i) knows that the certificate has so ceased to have effect or been so revoked, and

(ii) supplies to another person equipment of that pattern which is marked with a stamp and which was not used for trade at such a time,

he shall be guilty of an offence and the equipment supplied shall be liable to be forfeited.

(5) Each of the following instruments, namely—

(a) a certificate of approval granted under Article 10 and in force immediately before 4th April 1979; and

(b) an authorisation of modifications so granted and in force; and

(c) a certificate which is deemed by virtue of Article 10(7) to be a certificate of approval so granted and is in force as mentioned in sub-paragraph ( a),

shall have effect on and after 4th April 1979 as if it were a certificate of approval so granted on that date and, in the case of a certificate of approval actually granted subject to a condition relating to a specified period, as if that condition were imposed by virtue of paragraph (1)( b) and provided for the certificate to cease to be in force on the expiration of a period equal to that period and beginning with the day when the certificate was actually granted.

(6) The power conferred by Article 10(4) to revoke a certificate of approval of a pattern shall, in the case of a certificate in respect of which an authorisation of modifications has effect by virtue of paragraph (5) of this Article as if it were a further certificate of approval, include power to revoke the first-mentioned certificate as it has effect apart from the modifications without revoking it as it has effect with the modifications.

(7) It is hereby declared that Article 10(4) and the provisions of Article 10(3) relating to offences and forfeiture apply to a certificate continued in force by virtue of paragraph (4)( a).