Weights and Measures Act
(CHAPTER 349)

(Original Enactment: Act 51 of 1975)

REVISED EDITION 1985
(30th March 1987)
An Act relating to the use of uniform weights and measures throughout Singapore.
[1st January 1976]
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Short title
1.  This Act may be cited as the Weights and Measures Act.
Interpretation
2.—(1)  In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
“check-weighed”, in relation to any vehicle, means weighed with its load by means of the nearest suitable and available weighing equipment, and weighed again after it has been unloaded by means of the same or other suitable weighing equipment;
“constructional use”, in relation to any goods, means the use of those goods in constructional work in the course of the carrying on of a business;
“container” includes any form of packaging of goods for sale as a single item, whether by way of wholly or partly enclosing the goods or by way of attaching the goods to, or winding the goods round, some other article, and in particular includes a wrapper or confining band;
“contravention”, in relation to any requirement, includes a failure to comply with that requirement, and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;
“Controller” means the Controller of Weights and Measures appointed under section 29 and includes any officer duly authorised by the Controller to act on his behalf;
“drug” has the same meaning as in the Sale of Drugs Act [Cap. 282];
“food” has the same meaning as in the Sale of Food Act [Cap. 283];
“gross weight”, in relation to any goods, means the aggregate weight of the goods and any container in or on which they are made up;
“indication of quantity”, in relation to any container in or on which goods are made up, means a statement in writing to the effect that those goods are of, or of not less than, a specified quantity by net weight, gross weight or other measurement or by number, as the case may require;
“industrial use”, in relation to any goods, means the use of those goods in the manufacture of, or for incorporation in, goods of a different description in the course of the carrying on of a business;
“inspector” means an inspector of weights and measures appointed under section 29;
“international definition”, in relation to any unit of measurement, means the definition of that unit recognised by the General Conferences of Weights and Measures from time to time convened by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures;
“intoxicating liquor” has the same meaning as in the Customs Act [Cap. 70];
“mark” includes label;
“occupier”, in relation to any stall, vehicle, ship or aircraft or in relation to the use of any place for any purpose, means the person for the time being in charge of the stall, vehicle, ship or aircraft or, as the case may be, the person for the time being using that place for that purpose;
“premises”, except in section 28(3), includes any place and any stall, vehicle, ship or aircraft;
“pre-packed” means made up in advance ready for retail sale in or on a container; and on any premises where articles of any description are so made up, or are kept or stored for sale after being so made up, any article of that description found made up in or on a container shall be deemed to be pre-packed unless the contrary is proved; and it shall not be sufficient proof of the contrary to show that the container has not been marked in accordance with the requirements of this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder with respect to the pre-packing of such articles;
“sale by retail” means a sale to a person buying for his own use or consumption;
“ship” includes any boat and any other description of vessel used in navigation;
“stamp” means a mark for use as evidence of the passing of weighing or measuring equipment as fit for use for trade, whether applied by impressing, casting, engraving, etching, branding, or otherwise, and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;
“weighing or measuring equipment” means equipment for measuring in terms of length, area, volume, capacity, weight or number, whether or not the equipment is constructed to give an indication of the measurement made or other information determined by reference to that measurement.
(2)  Except where the context otherwise requires, any reference in this Act to any person, other than a reference to an inspector, shall be construed as a reference to that person or some other person acting on his behalf in the matter in question.