Note

Part heading amended by L 1991, c 153, §8.

§486-1 Definitions. As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Administrator" means the administering officer of the quality assurance division, or any qualified person so designated by the chairperson.

"Advertising" or "advertising medium" includes all publicity, mass media, signs, banners, posters, placards, labels, streamers, marks, brands, grades, descriptions, or displays.

"Board" means board of agriculture.

"Certificate of conformance" means a document issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology based on testing in participating laboratories and constitutes evidence of conformance of a type with the requirements of National Institute of Standards and Technology handbooks 44, 105-1, 105-2, or 105-3.

"Chairperson" includes the chairperson of the board of agriculture and when specifically designated by the chairperson for the purpose of effectuating this chapter, the deputy to the chairperson.

"Consumer commodity" means any article, product, good or agricultural or other commodity of any kind that is customarily produced or distributed for sale through mercantile or retail sales outlets for consumption or use by individuals, including but not limited to food products or consumer packages.

"Consumer package" or "package of consumer commodity" means a package that is customarily produced or distributed for sale through retail sales agencies or instrumentalities for consumption or use by individuals for the purposes of personal care or in the performance of services ordinarily rendered in or about the household or in connection with personal possessions.

"Correct", as used in connection with measurement standards, means conformance to all applicable requirements of this chapter and to rules adopted under its authority; all other measures and measurement standards are "incorrect".

"Craft item" means any consumer commodity that is not an agricultural commodity or a perishable consumer commodity that is manufactured, assembled, fabricated, or produced by an individual working alone or a small group of individuals working collaboratively and that is produced by hand or by using simple tools. Craft item does not include a consumer commodity that is mass-produced or an item that is merely assembled from two or more mass-produced consumer commodities.

"Department" means department of agriculture.

"Incorrect" means to be in noncompliance with any specification, tolerance, performance criteria, standard, or any part of this chapter or any rule adopted under it.

"Inspector" means any employee or official of the department authorized by the board to administer and enforce the provisions of this law.

"Intrastate commerce" means commerce or trade begun, carried on, and completed wholly within the limits of the State.

"Introduced into intrastate commerce" means the time and place at which the first sale and delivery of a commodity is made within the State, the delivery being made either directly to the purchaser or to a common carrier for shipment to the purchaser.

"Label" includes any written, printed, or graphic matter affixed to, applied to, attached to, blown into, formed, molded into, embossed on, or appearing upon or adjacent to a consumer commodity, or a package containing any consumer commodity, for purposes of branding, pricing, identifying, or giving any information with respect to the commodity or to the contents of the package, except that an inspector's tag or other nonpromotional matter affixed to or appearing upon a consumer commodity shall not be considered a label requiring the repetition of label information required by this chapter.

"Measure" includes all measures of every kind, including but not limited to weight, mass, length, volume, time, and count; instruments and devices for weighing, measuring, or counting; and appliances and accessories associated with any such instruments and devices.

"Measurement standards" includes any standard or definition or model or reference or measurement relating to metrology including but not limited to weights and measures, artifacts, and reproducible definitions of a unit of measure and their applicable tolerances including those of the SI, and definitions of a lot size, sample and tolerances as related to statistical inspection.

"Metric system" means the SI or International System of Units, as established by the General Conference of Weights and Measures in 1960 and as interpreted or modified for the United States by the Secretary of Commerce. The modernized metric system is identified by the capital letters "SI" in all languages. Whenever the term "metric" or "metric system" or "metric system of measurement" is used, it shall mean "SI".

"Misbranded" includes:

(1) False, incomplete, incorrect, or misleading labeling;

(2) Misrepresentation as to the identity, quantity, quality, or point of origin;

(3) Misrepresentation as to the principal place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor;

(4) Misrepresentation by vignette, pictorial display, identifiable geographical location, or by any term, word, or phrase in juxtaposition to any other information associated with, labeled on, or accompanying the consumer commodity which falsely alludes to a specific point of origin, a general locale such as a state, or to historical usage by a people;

(5) Misrepresentation as to originality or creativity;

(6) Misrepresentation of the consumer commodity as an imitation of another or as an imitation of a generic product; and

(7) Misrepresentation in any other manner tending to confuse the prospective purchaser.

"National type evaluation program" means a program of cooperation between the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Conference on Weights and Measures, the states, and the private sector for determining, on a uniform basis, conformance of a type with the relevant provisions of National Institute of Standards and Technology handbook 44, "Specifications, Tolerances, and Other Technical Requirements for Weighing and Measuring Devices"; National Institute of Standards and Technology handbook 105-1, "Specifications and Tolerances for Reference Standards and Field Standard Weights and Measures, Specifications and Tolerances for Field Standard Weights (NIST class F)"; National Institute of Standards and Technology handbook 105-2, "Specifications and Tolerances for Reference Standards and Field Standard Weights and Measures, Specifications and Tolerances for Field Standard Measuring Flask"; or National Institute of Standards and Technology handbook 105-3, "Specifications and Tolerances for Reference Standards and Field Standard Weights and Measures, Specifications and Tolerances for Graduated Neck Type Volumetric Field Standards".

"Nonconsumer package" or "package of nonconsumer commodity" means any package other than a consumer package, and particularly a package designed solely for industrial or institutional use or for wholesale distribution.

"Package", whether standard package or random package, means any commodity:

(1) Enclosed in a container or wrapped in any manner in advance of wholesale or retail sale; or

(2) Whose weight or measure has been determined in advance of wholesale or retail sale.

The term "package" shall not apply to:

(1) Inner wrappings not intended to be individually sold to the customer;

(2) Shipping containers or wrapping used solely for the transportation of any commodities in bulk or in quantity to manufacturers, packers, or processors, or to wholesale or retail distributors, but in no event shall this exclusion apply to packages of consumer or nonconsumer commodities, as defined herein;

(3) Auxiliary containers or outer wrappings used to deliver packages of such commodities to retail customers if such containers or wrappings bear no printed matter pertaining to any particular commodity;

(4) Containers used for retail tray pack displays when the container itself is not intended to be sold (e.g., the tray that is used to display individual envelopes of seasonings, gravies, etc., and the tray itself is not intended to be sold); or

(5) Open carriers and transparent wrappers or carriers for containers when the wrappers or carriers do not bear any written, printed, or graphic matter obscuring the label information required by this chapter.

An individual item or lot of any commodity on which there is marked a selling price based on an established price per unit of weight or of measure shall be considered a package or packages.

"Participating laboratory" means any state measurement laboratory that has been certified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in accordance with its program for the certification of capability of state measurement laboratories, to conduct a type evaluation under the national type evaluation program.

"Perishable consumer commodity" means any article, product, good, or agricultural commodity of any kind that is customarily produced or distributed for sale through mercantile or retail sales outlets; is intended for consumption as food or use by individuals for the purposes of personal care or in the performance of services ordinarily rendered in or about the household or in connection with personal possessions; and is intended to have a limited shelf life. "Perishable consumer commodity" includes, but is not limited to, baked goods, dairy products, cut or dried flowers, coffee, candy, cookies, jam, jelly, juices, oils, nuts, or similar products.

"Random measure package" or "random package" means a package that is one of a lot, shipment, or delivery of packages of the same commodity with no fixed pattern of measure.

"Retail" means sale to the final consumer.

"Sell" and "sale" include barter and exchange.

"Standard package" means a package that is one of a lot, shipment, or delivery of packages of the same commodity with identical net contents declarations.

"Standard test" or "standard method" includes any test or method conducted or prescribed in accordance with the measurement standards established under section 486-1.

"Type" means a model or models of a particular measurement system, instrument, element, or a field standard that positively identifies the design. A specific type may vary in its measurement ranges, size, performance, and operating characteristics as specified in the certificate of conformance.

"Type evaluation" means the testing, examination, or evaluation of a type by a participating laboratory under the national type evaluation program. [L 1988, c 156, pt of §3; am L 1991, c 153, §9; am L 1993, c 54, §1; am L 1997, c 163, §1; am L 1998, c 192, §1; am L 2009, c 80, §1]

Cross References

Bottled water labeling requirements, see §328D-6.

Gold and silver stamping, see chapter 482D.

Plastic container coding, see §§342H-41, 42.

Trademarks, unlawful use, see chapter 482.

Water treatment units, see chapter 481H.