October 20,2018:

The Author, Shreeja Chatterjee is a 3rd Year student of NMIMS Kirti  P.  Mehta School of Law, Mumbai. She is currently interning with LatestLaws.com.

 INTRODUCTION

Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules , 1977 has been introduced under the Standard of weights and measures Act 1976. India has adopted the international standards of weights and measures and now India has revised the standards of weights and measures. There has been certain legislations passes before the act, 1977 was passes and with regards to the said act the standards of weights and measures rules , 1977 was passed.  The main objective here, is to protect the interests of the consumers.Consumers have a right to know about any kind of products which they are buying. They have a right to knowledge so that they realize the kind of products they are using. The commodities which are being used by people should have a rationalized way of packaging depending upon the weight of the said commodity so as to have a particular and specific display price.

These commodities also have the date of expiry and date of manufacturing. These dates are extremely significant for the consumers because they can know the actual period of using the products. Specially when these commodities are food items or pharmaceutical products the consumers can suffer incase these dates are not explicitly mentioned.

India has already witness economic changes and these changes are effecting industrial development. The standards of weights and measures are a part of industrial development. Industrial development is major aspect of any nation and its progress. The industries if not subjected to these rules and standards might actually produce and sell products which can cause harm and loss to the consumers who are actually people of the nation. Thus it is of paramount importance that these standards and rules are strictly adhered to by all the manufacturing industries.

Q1) What is packaging?

Ans. Packaging serves as a link between production and consumption. Whenever products are packages they provide for certain intricate detail about the product. These details include the date of manufacturing and expiry and the net weight of the product. It also mentions certain ingredients which are used during the manufacturing of the products.

Moreover, it is the package, which has to instruct the user on the proper usage and also warn him of the side effects, which he should expect. No public authority in the world can afford to shun its responsibility of protecting the life, property and environment of the citizens. The handling and the transportation of the corrosive chemicals, skin irritants, poisonous substances, explosive materials, inflammable chemicals bring in the their fray a host of dangers. The design of the containers to enclose, contain and carry them safely protecting the environment from getting affected is a consideration where the technology has to be perfect.

The accelerated pace of life brought about by the advancement of technology have also made men feverishly seek shortcuts to comforts. The demand for products that bestow comforts and convenience is fast exceeding those of others. Millions of men and women do not want traditional varieties of products but apt for offbeat varieties. The society seeks convenience and prefers to have 'instant' products. This has further in folded problems of packaging without which savings in time and effort would not be practicable. In order therefore to help the industrial society and to expedite the era of industrial civilisation, it has become necessary to regulate the production and marketing of such instant products. It must be remembered that ultimately is the product alone that is consumed and packaging is only a means to deliver it in a fit condition will the time of consumption. Thus packaging here plays an important role.

In the case of Whirlpool India Ltd v Union of India the issue was that whether a refrigerator is a packaged commodity or not . The Appellant was engaged in the manufacture of Refrigerators. The Central Govt. had issued a Notification under the Central Excise Act regarding valuation which covered Refrigerators and accordingly, the Appellant felt aggrieved by it since it would require him to print the MRP on the package of the Refrigerator manufactured by him. It was held that refrigerators are pre-packed commodities and would continue to be so even after the package has been removed for testing purpose. Rule 6 would apply which means that there are certain requirements of a refrigerator including the fact that the price has to be printed on the package . thus refrigerator is a packaged commodity.

Q2) Who is a dealer ?

Ans. A dealer is any person who is firm or a hindu undivided family  engaged in buying and selling of any commodity for the purpose of remuneration or any other form of consideration. Dealer is any kind of person who is involved in buying and selling of goods and commodities . the dealer is not the manufacturer. Deals are only involved in buying and selling of the commodities.

Q3) Who is a manufacturer?

Ans. A manufacturer is any person who actually makes or many factures any or commodity. The person can be a firm or a hindu undivided family but the manufacturer who so ever it is has a claim on the product. He can give any mark to his product and that mark on the packaging of the commodity proves that the product belongs to the respective firm, hindu undivided family or any other person.

Q4)What is net quantity ?

Ans. Net quantity refers to the exact weight or number of a quanity.

Q5) What is pre packed commodity ?

Ans. Pre-packed commodity is any commodity which is packed without the presence of the buyer so as to determine the price or value of the commodity. In the case of State of Maharashtra vs Subhas Arjun das kataria there was an issue pertaining to the fact that whether sunglasses are a part of pre packed commodity or not. In this case the appellant who was  the Inspector of metrology had seized sun glasses from the respondent’s store on the ground that the name and the address of the manufacturer was not mentioned and the month and the year of manufacturing was also not mentioned.

Are sunglasses a part of pre-packed commodity under the Standards of weights and measures (packaged commodities ) rules, 1977. The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the High Court and mentioned that pre packed commodity refers to any commodity which is pre packed and the packaging is done so that the product has a fixed value or price which cannot be altered. Here sunglasses can be tested by the buyer according to his choice or comfort thus it does not come under pre packed commodities under the Standards of weights and measures (packaged commodities) rules, 1997.

Q6) Who is retail dealer?

Ans. A retail dealer is a person who directly sells goods at a particular price. He is person who directly sells goods to the consumer. Retail sale price is the maximum price at which a commodity is sold. In the case of ITC Ltd  vs NCT of Delhi an inspection was carried out in the distributor’s store and a complaint was filed against ITC Ltd for not mentioning the price of the cigarettes while selling them in the distributors store. The issue raised here is that whether whole sale package would include maximum retail rice to be displayed. It was held by Delhi High Court that whole sale package is outside this purview because retail sale and retail price is different and whole sale packaging has its own difference.

Q7) Who is a whole sale dealer?

Ans. Whole sale dealer in relation to packaged commodities a person who does not sell commodities directly to consumers but sells them indirectly which means he sells products through intermediaries.

Q8). What the regulations of packaging under this rule ?

  1. The name and address of the manufacturer or where the manufacturer is not the packer, the name and address of the manufacturer and packer.
  2. The common or generic names of the commodity contained in the package.
  3. The net quantity in terms of the standard unit of weight or measure, of the commodity contained in the package or where the commodity is packed or sold by number, the number of commodity contained in the package.

4 .The month and year in which the commodity is manufactured or pre-packed. (Provided that for packages containing food articles, the provisions of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA), 1954 (37 of 1954) and the rules made there under shall apply).

  1. The retail price of the package.
  2. The retail sale price of the package.
  3. When a product is advertised through media, the net quantity or number of the commodity must be conspicuously declared in the advertisement along with the price.
  4. Maximum permissible errors and their range has been defined in the Schedules (III and IV) in the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules
  5. If the food contains any ingredient in part or whole from animal origin (meat, fish, poultry eggs), a declaration is to be made by a symbol and a colour code stipulated for this purpose, to indicate the product as Non-vegetarian Food.

Q9) What are the other provisions regarding quantity ?

  1. In declaring the net quantity of the commodity contained in a package, the weight of wrappers and materials other than the commodity shall be excluded; provided that where a package contains a large number of small items of confectionery, each of which is separately wrapped, the net weight declared on the package containing such confectionery or on the label thereof may include the weight of such immediate wrappers, if and only if, the total weight of such immediate wrappers does not exceed:-
  • 8%, where such immediate wrapper is a waxed paper or any other paper, with wax or aluminium foil (under strip), or
  • 6%, in case of any other paper, of the total net weight of all the items of confectionery contained in the package minus the weight of immediate wrapper.

2.Where a commodity in a package is not likely to undergo any variation in weight or measure, on account of the environmental conditions, the quantity declared on the package shall correspond to the net quantity, which will be received by the consumer, and the declaration of quantity on such package shall not be qualified by the words “when packed” or the like.

  1. Save as otherwise provided in sub-rule (4), where a commodity in package is likely to undergo variations in weight or measure on account of environmental conditions and such variation is negligible, the declaration of quantity in relation to such package shall be made after taking into account such variation so that the consumer may receive not less than the net quantity of the commodity as declared on the package, and the declaration of quantity on such package shall not also be qualified by the words “when packed” or the like.
  2. The declaration of quantity in relation to commodities specified in the Fourth Schedule, that is to say, commodities which are likely to undergo significant variation in weight or measures on account of environmental or other conditions, may be qualified by the words “when packed”.

Q10) What can consumers do ?

Ans. A consumer can only do two things - be eligible as a consumer (like asking for a bill etc.) and being aware of the mandatory requirements to demand them as our consumer rights.  In a recent case an amount of compensation of Rs 50,000 was to be given by PepsiCo because of under weight products. There was a person who bought a packet of lays potato chips and found it to be under weight. It was only 8pm where the standard quantity is 30gm. Thus he approached the high court where High Court of Gujarat held that he is entitled to compensation as there are many cases where the weight of the products are found to be less than weight which is advertised

Q11) What are the penal provisions?

Ans. Section 63 of the Act says that if any person packs, distributes, stores, delivers or sells commodities, which does not meet the requirements of the Act and the Packaged Commodities Rules, can be punished by a fine which may extend up to Rs.5000. If the offence is repeated, the penalty can be imprisonment of up to five years.

Similarly, Section 74 provides for offences by companies and other body corporate. Both the persons, master and the servant, are jointly responsible. Thus, when a firm commits an offence, the company and the person who is the cause for commission of the offence, are both jointly responsible.

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