AAM-43-07-00001-P Required Procedures for Weights and Measures Officials

10/24/07 N.Y. St. Reg. AAM-43-07-00001-P

NEW YORK STATE REGISTER

VOLUME XXIX, ISSUE 43

October 24, 2007

RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND MARKETS

PROPOSED RULE MAKING

NO HEARING(S) SCHEDULED

 

I.D No. AAM-43-07-00001-P

Required Procedures for Weights and Measures Officials

PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following proposed rule:

Proposed action:

This is a consensus rule making to add section 220.14 to Title 1 NYCRR.

Statutory authority:

Agriculture and Markets Law, sections 16, 18 and 197-b(3)(a)

Subject:

Required procedures for weights and measures officials to determine accuracy of prices of merchandise offered for sale at retail stores.

Purpose:

To incorporate by reference “Examination Procedure for Price Verification,” as set forth in NIST Handbook 130.

Text of proposed rule:

1 NYCRR is amended by adding thereto section 220.14, to read as follows:

220.14 Testing Procedures for Price Verification. The testing procedures for pricing accuracy shall be those adopted by the 80th National Conference on Weights and Measures and published in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Handbook 130, 2006 edition, “Examination Procedure for Price Verification”. This document is available from the National Conference on Weights and Measures, 15245 Shady Grove Road, Rockville, MD 20850, or the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC 20402. It is available for public inspection and copying in the office of the Director of Weights and Measures, Department of Agriculture and Markets, 10B Airline Drive, Albany, NY 12235, or in the office of the Department of State, 41 State Street, Albany, NY 12231.

Text of proposed rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:

Ross Andersen, Department of Agriculture and Markets, 10B Airline Dr., Albany, NY 12235, [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]

Data, views or arguments may be submitted to:

Same as above.

Public comment will be received until:

45 days after publication of this notice.

Consensus Rule Making Determination

The proposed rule amends 1 NYCRR by adding thereto section 220.14, to incorporate by reference “The Examination Procedure for Price Verification” as adopted by the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) at its 80th Annual Meeting in 1995. The document was first published in the 1996 edition of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Handbook 130 and has remained unchanged in every edition of NIST Handbook 130 published subsequent thereto.

The proposed rule is required pursuant to the directive set forth in Agriculture and Markets Law section 197-b(3)(a) as added by Chapter 665 of the Laws of 2006. Such provision of law, inter alia, requires the Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets to “… adopt test procedures utilizing randomized sampling techniques … [that are] consistent with the examination procedure for price verification developed by [NCWM] and published in [NIST] handbook one hundred thirty.” The proposed rule is, therefore, a consensus rule because it implements a non-discretionary statutory provision.

Job Impact Statement

The proposed rule will not have an adverse impact on jobs or on employment opportunities.

The proposed rule will amend 1 NYCRR by adding thereto section 220.14, to incorporate by reference “The Examination Procedure for Price Verification”, as it appears in National Institute of Standards and Technology Handbook 130, 2006 edition. The procedure in such document is used by the weights and measures officials in verifying compliance with pricing accuracy statutes and the use of these procedures is not incumbent on any retail store operator or employee.

The proposed rule will not, therefore, have any adverse impact upon jobs or employment opportunities.