When is a Legal For Trade Scale Required?

Products sold by weight are required to be weighed with legal for trade weighing equipment. In the United States, you need to look for NTEP approval with a valid certificate of conformance number. Department of Weights and Measures officials can perform audits on weighing devices to ensure that they are NTEP approved with proper inspections.

Required legal for trade scales can come from all industries, especially food service, jewelry and pharmaceuticals. Any business that sells a product by weight is required to use an NTEP certified scale or balance for use in commercial weighing. 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. 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 approved 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 Agriculture 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.

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.