The Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) has prohibited the importation, sale or use of a section of weighing instruments by section 30 of the Metrology Act.
According to the letter the bureau released, it has prohibited the sale, importing and use of Small face dial/chart spring scales or suspended weighers with a diameter of 17 cm or below, Tabular spring scales, open ranger counter scales, and class IIII weighing instruments.
The bureau has also restricted the use of spring scales equipped with a hand-operated knoch and spring scales with a balancing range exceeding 1% of the instrument’s capacity.
According to the bureau, any person found using, importing or selling the prohibited weighing instruments will be fined K500 000 and get his machines seized.
“To ensure compliance with the law, importers must halt all orders, shipments and transactions involving prohibited weighing instruments, retailers and distributors must review existing inventory and discontinue sales, and non-compliant stock must be surrendered to MBS for lawful disposal immediately,” reads the letter.
Lately, different stakeholders have been using these non-standard weighing instruments when buying commodities and scrap metals.
The bureau has enforced the prohibition of importation, sale, or use of these weighing instruments by order of regulation, which was published in the Malawi Gazette supplement in February 2021.
