2007 Minnesota Statutes

239.011 DIVISION RESPONSIBILITIES AND POWERS.
    Subdivision 1. Responsibilities. The division shall:
(1) ensure that weights and measures in commercial service within the state are suitable for
their intended use, properly installed, accurate, and properly maintained by their owners or users;
(2) prevent unfair or deceptive dealing by weight or measure in a commodity or service
advertised, packaged, sold, or purchased within the state;
(3) make the precision calibration and related metrological certification capabilities of the
division available to users of physical standards or weighing and measuring equipment;
(4) promote uniformity, to the extent practicable and desirable, between the weights and
measures requirements of Minnesota and those of other states and federal agencies; and
(5) adopt weights and measures requirements that will protect consumers, promote equity
between buyers and sellers, and encourage desirable economic growth.
    Subd. 2. Duties and powers. To carry out the responsibilities in section 239.01 and
subdivision 1, the director:
(1) shall take charge of, keep, and maintain in good order the standard of weights and
measures of the state and keep a seal so formed as to impress, when appropriate, the letters
"MINN" and the date of sealing upon the weights and measures that are sealed;
(2) has general supervision of the weights, measures, and weighing and measuring devices
offered for sale, sold, or in use in the state;
(3) shall maintain traceability of the state standards to the national standards of the National
Institute of Standards and Technology;
(4) shall enforce this chapter;
(5) shall grant variances from department rules, within the limits set by rule, when
appropriate to maintain good commercial practices or when enforcement of the rules would
cause undue hardship;
(6) shall conduct investigations to ensure compliance with this chapter;
(7) may delegate to division personnel the responsibilities, duties, and powers contained
in this section;
(8) shall test annually, and approve when found to be correct, the standards of weights and
measures used by the division, by a town, statutory or home rule charter city, or county within
the state, or by a person using standards to repair, adjust, or calibrate commercial weights and
measures;
(9) shall inspect and test weights and measures kept, offered, or exposed for sale;
(10) shall inspect and test, to ascertain if they are correct, weights and measures
commercially used to:
(i) determine the weight, measure, or count of commodities or things sold, offered, or
exposed for sale, on the basis of weight, measure, or count; and
(ii) compute the basic charge or payment for services rendered on the basis of weight,
measure, or count;
(11) shall approve for use and mark weights and measures that are found to be correct;
(12) shall reject, and mark as rejected, weights and measures that are found to be incorrect
and may seize them if those weights and measures:
(i) are not corrected within the time specified by the director;
(ii) are used or disposed of in a manner not specifically authorized by the director; or
(iii) are found to be both incorrect and not capable of being made correct, in which case the
director shall condemn those weights and measures;
(13) shall weigh, measure, or inspect packaged commodities kept, offered, or exposed for
sale, sold, or in the process of delivery, to determine whether they contain the amount represented
and whether they are kept, offered, or exposed for sale in accordance with this chapter and
department rules. In carrying out this section, the director must employ recognized sampling
procedures, such as those contained in National Institute of Standards and Technology Handbook
133, "Checking the Net Contents of Packaged Goods";
(14) shall prescribe the appropriate term or unit of weight or measure to be used for a specific
commodity when an existing term or declaration of quantity does not facilitate value comparisons
by consumers, or creates an opportunity for consumer confusion;
(15) shall allow reasonable variations from the stated quantity of contents, including
variations caused by loss or gain of moisture during the course of good distribution practice or by
unavoidable deviations in good manufacturing practice, only after the commodity has entered
commerce within the state;
(16) shall inspect and test petroleum products in accordance with this chapter and chapter
296A;
(17) shall distribute and post notices for used motor oil and used motor oil filters and lead
acid battery recycling in accordance with sections 239.54, 325E.11, and 325E.115;
(18) shall collect inspection fees in accordance with sections 239.10 and 239.101; and
(19) shall provide metrological services and support to businesses and individuals in the
United States who wish to market products and services in the member nations of the European
Economic Community, and other nations outside of the United States by:
(i) meeting, to the extent practicable, the measurement quality assurance standards described
in the International Standards Organization ISO 17025;
(ii) maintaining, to the extent practicable, certification of the metrology laboratory by an
internationally accepted accrediting body such as the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation
Program (NVLAP); and
(iii) providing calibration and consultation services to metrology laboratories in government
and private industry in the United States.
    Subd. 3. Liquefied petroleum gas. (a) The annual testing and inspection requirements
for liquefied petroleum gas-measuring equipment, as set forth in section 239.10, subdivision
3 , shall be deemed to have been met by an owner or seller who has testing and inspection
performed annually in compliance with this subdivision. The testing and inspection must meet
the following requirements:
(1) all equipment subject to inspection and testing requirements must be inspected and
tested annually;
(2) inspection testing must only be done by persons who have demonstrated to the director
that they are competent to inspect and test liquefied petroleum gas-measuring equipment.
Competency may be established by passage of a competency examination, which the director
must establish, or by other recognized credentialing processes approved by the director. Persons
taking tests established by the director may be charged for the costs of the testing procedure;
(3) testing and inspection procedures must comply with inspection protocol, which must
be established by the director. The director may use existing protocol or recognize any other
scientifically established and recognized protocol;
(4) persons who inspect or test liquefied petroleum gas-measuring equipment must use
testing equipment that meets any specifications issued by the director;
(5) equipment used for testing and inspection must be submitted to the director for calibration
by the division whenever ordered by the director; and
(6) all inspectors, equipment, and inspection protocol must comply with all relevant
requirements of Minnesota Statutes, department rules, and written procedures issued by the
director.
(b) Owners or sellers of liquefied petroleum gas may perform their own tests and inspections
or have employees do so as long as they meet the requirements of this subdivision. Persons
performing inspection and testing may also perform repairs and maintenance on inspected
equipment if authorized by the owner. However, they shall not be allowed to take equipment
out of service.
(c) Inspectors shall tag meters that fail the testing process as "out of tolerance." For
equipment that has passed inspection, the inspector shall provide to the owner or seller a seal
indicating that the equipment has been inspected and the date of the inspection. Whenever an
inspector issues a seal to an owner or seller, the inspector shall submit to the director written
verification that the equipment was tested by procedures and testing equipment meeting the
requirements of this subdivision. The director shall issue seals (stickers) to inspectors for the
purposes of this subdivision. The issuance of a seal to an owner or seller establishes only that the
equipment was inspected by a certified inspector using qualified equipment and procedures, and
that the equipment was found to be within allowable tolerance on the date tested.
History: 1991 c 198 s 2; 1993 c 369 s 70; 1995 c 220 s 114; 1998 c 299 s 30; 2004 c 189 s
1; 1Sp2005 c 1 art 4 s 59