Legal for Trade, NTEP Approved, Certified Scales and Balances

When is a Legal For Trade Scale Required?

Products sold by weight are required to be weighed with certified weighing equipment. In the United States, you need to look for NTEP approval with a valid certificate of conformance number. Many of the items our customers use legal for trade scales for include fruits and vegetables, coffee, candy, pharmaceuticals and jewelry. Department of Weights and Measures officials can perform audits on weighing devices to ensure that the scale being used is in fact NTEP approved with proper inspections. Many scales and balances may still be marketed to be used for food applications such as portion control or general purpose weighing without this certification. We feel you can never go wrong when you purchase a product truly tested to perform to handbook 44 guidelines. Of course if you simply want to weigh out ingredients for your own personal cooking this may not be necessary.

People requiring legal for trade scales can come from all sorts of different industries, but food service and jewelry balances tend to be the most common. This is because any business that sells a product by weight is required by law to use an NTEP certified scale for use in legal for trade weighing applications. This means farm stands or grocery stores selling fruits and vegetables by the pound must make sure their retail scale is certified legal for trade and inspected before use in commercial weighing applications. Make sure your certified weighing equipment has been properly locked and sealed in conformance with state laws.

You should look for the NTEP certificate of conformance to ensure the scale you are looking to purchase has been certified by Weights and Measures officials and has passed their testing process. You should still get your commercial scale inspected prior to use and can call the Department of Weights and Measures in your state for full requirements. Each state can have different rules and you always want to be sure you are abiding by any rules set forth. One of these rules can include requiring a dual display so the customer can read the weight on the scale. In the case of a jewelry balance you may need to buy an auxiliary display that can be positioned in the clear view of the customer making the purchase.

One popular function of a certified retail scale is price computing. In the USA, you never want to purchase a price computing scale that is not legal for trade since it would be illegal to ever use. It may be accepted in other countries but would certainly be in violation anywhere in the United States. Even though this is a fact, you may find scale dealers online still selling non-certified models. Be sure you can obtain a certificate of conformance and buy well known brand names and not something generic. It is best to stay in compliance to avoid fines and penalties.

Type approved balances will have an NTEP certificate number on them which can be used to pull up the actual document on the National Conference on Weights and Measures website describing the specific model you own or are planning to purchase. This document will also note whether its NTEP approval is for a certain mode or weighing unit.

For example, an NTEP Approved scale can have weighing specifications of 2100 g x 0.01 g but is only legal for trade at 2100 g x 0.1 g.

It is important to be aware of this before you purchase a balance to ensure the scale meets your precise weighing specifications in NTEP mode. If you are caught not abiding by these laws your scale may be seized and you may also be fined. Businesses can also be required to shut down until a properly inspected, certified scale is ready for operation.

NTEP certification is a time consuming process which is why some balances say they are pending NTEP approval. Some manufacturers put a lot of effort into getting their equipment certified while others do not. Please be aware that just because a balance is pending approval it may not be used commercially unless it has the "Legal for Trade" label. Each unit should be properly labeled and should never be removed from the scale or balance. Removal will void certification.