98.05 Enforcement authority; measurement center laboratory.

(1) There is hereby conferred upon sealers and inspectors of weights and measures, police power; such sealers and inspectors shall be provided with suitable badges or insignia of authority and in the exercise of their functions shall exhibit the same, upon demand, to any person questioning their powers, and they are hereby empowered and authorized to make arrests, with or without formal warrant, of any persons violating any statute relating to weights and measures.

(2) Sealers or inspectors may enter and go into or upon any structure or premises, and may stop any person or vehicle for the purpose of enforcing this chapter. They shall inspect and test any weights and measures or commodities which are sold or used commercially as often as necessary to secure compliance with this chapter, and may seize as evidence, or reject and mark or tag as “rejected" those which are incorrect. A representative sample may be used as the basis to determine whether any lot is incorrect.

(3) Weights and measures and commodities that have been rejected may be confiscated and destroyed by a sealer or inspector if not corrected within 30 days or such longer period as the sealer or inspector may authorize, or if used or disposed of without the sealer's or inspector's written authorization.

(4) Sealers or inspectors may seal or mark with appropriate devices such weights and measures as are found upon inspection and test to be in conformance with this chapter.

(5) The department shall:

(a) Establish and maintain a measurement center laboratory for the testing and calibration of weights and measures; and

(b) Fix and collect charges sufficient to cover the cost for the testing and calibration done in the measurement center laboratory.

History: 1993 a. 16, 492.