Rule 40-15-2-.05 - Registration of Servicemen and Service Agencies for Commercial Weight and Measuring Devices(1) Policy. Registration of either an individual or an agency that shall install, repair, recondition, or test commercial weighing and measuring devices shall be required; and in requiring that registration, the Commissioner of Agriculture does establish, publish and declare that the standards established in Paragraph 40-15-2-.05(5) of this regulation to be the requirements for all registered individuals and agencies engaged in the business of installing, repairing, reconditioning of weighing and measuring devices in the State of Georgia.(2) Definitions. (a) Registered Serviceman. The term "Registered Serviceman" shall be construed to mean any individual who for hire, award, commission, or any other payment of any kind, installs, services, repairs, or reconditions a commercial weighing or measuring device, and who meets the requirements of Paragraph 40-15-2-.05(5) of this regulation.(b) Registered Service Agency. The term "Registered Service Agency" shall be construed to mean any agency, firm, company, or corporation which, for hire, award, commission, or any other payment of any kind, installs, services, repairs or reconditions a commercial weighing or measuring device, and which meets the requirements of Paragraph 40-15-2-.05(5) of these regulations. Under the agency registration, identification of individual servicemen shall not be required, except as hereinafter provided.(c) Commercial Weighing and Measuring Device. The term "Commercial Weighing and Measuring Device" shall be construed to include any weight or measure or weighing or measuring device commercially used or employed in establishing the size, quantity, extent, area, or measurement of quantities, things, produce or articles for distribution or consumption, purchased, offered, or submitted for sale, hire, or award, or in computing any basic charge or payment for services rendered on the basis of weight or measure, and shall also include any accessory attached to or used in connection with a commercial weighing or measuring device where such accessory is so designed or installed that its operation affects, or may affect, the accuracy of the device.(3) Reciprocity. The Commissioner may enter into an informal reciprocal agreement with any other state or states that has (or have) similar registration policies. Under such agreement, the registered servicemen and the registered service agencies of the state, party to reciprocal agreement, are granted full reciprocal authority, including reciprocal recognition of certification of standards and testing equipment, in all states party to such agreement.(4) Registration Renewal. Effective with the next weights and measures field standards inspection and recalibration due, registration renewals for the serviceman and/or service agency shall be completed at the time weights and measures field standards are submitted to the Georgia Weights and Measures Laboratory for inspection and recalibration. Registration for service persons entering the occupation for the first time shall coincide with the serviceman meeting initially all other requirements of this Regulation.(5) General Requirements for Registered Servicemen and/or Service Agencies. The Commissioner of Agriculture establishes these requirements to be met initially by the applicant for "Servicemen's Registration." It shall be the prerogative of the Commissioner to change these requirements, after due notice and hearing, to maintain good order in the fulfilling of the duties of his office. (a) Character and work reference requirements established by the Commissioner of Agriculture shall be met initially by the applicant for his probationary certification of six months.(b) Evidence of proper equipment, including all weights and/or measurement standards having been inspected and tolerance tested biennially, is a requirement to be met by the applicant for registration.(c) Compliance with weights and/or measurement standards for the type of certification requested or applied for is mandatory.(d) An interview of the applicant for registration as a part of the probationary application procedure may be arranged with the Commissioner as a part of, or in lieu of formal examinations for certification.(e) Each registered serviceman or registered service agency engaged in the repair, service, installation, or reconditioning of or testing of weighing or measuring devices must furnish a surety bond in the amount of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000), except that all repairmen, operating from the headquarters in which the service agency is located, employed by a service agency may be covered by a single bond.(f) In subsequent years of certification, the serviceman or service agency must submit all weights and measures to a weights and measures laboratory biennially for inspection and testing. Failure to comply with this requirement will be considered just cause for revocation of the serviceman's or service agency's registration status, after a public hearing.(g) When a serviceman's or service agency's weights and measures are carried to an out-of-state weights and measures laboratory for inspection, the serviceman or service agency shall be responsible for providing the Director of the Weights and Measures Laboratory a copy of the current certification of all weights and measures used in the repair, service, or testing of weighing and measuring devices within the State of Georgia.(h) In the event an out-of-state scale serviceman is installing a commercial weighing or measuring device and does not have either (1) a Certificate of Registration, or (2) currently state-calibrated test weights in sufficient amount to perform final adjustments of the device to meet NBS HANDBOOK 44 requirements, he or the company he represents, must engage or employ an in-state registered scale serviceman to perform final adjustments and tests for device conformity with NBS HANDBOOK 44.(i) Any serviceman or service agency residing or situated at a distance greater than fifty (50) miles from the parent service agency, and servicing the area in which he is situated, shall be considered to be separate, apart, and independent from his home agency, and must meet all the requirements required of individual or agency registrants, including the inspection of weights and measures and individual or agency registration.(j) All registered servicemen or service agencies, or companies holding their bond, must, upon the request of the Commissioner, show proof, or provide evidence that he, or his service agency, has sufficient tools and other equipment necessary to render satisfactory service.(k) Each service agency shall provide twice yearly (January 1 and July 1) a listing of servicemen covered under the agency's registration.(l) Each registered serviceman must show his registration-identification card, upon request, before installing, adjusting, repairing, or rebuilding any weighing or measuring device.(m) The installing salesman, serviceman, or scale mechanic, must report, on forms provided by the Commissioner, every commercial weighing or measuring device installed, or adjusted and repaired, and returned to service after rejection or condemnation, within twenty-four hours after such installation, repair, adjustment or rebuilding.(n) In the installation of new commercial weighing and measuring devices within the jurisdiction of the Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Commissioner, the vendor or the jobber and the installer (who is bonded) shall be held, equally and together, responsible for the performance of the newly-installed weighing device prior to the approval by inspectors of the Weights and Measures Division.(o) To perform the duties required of a "Registered Serviceman" he may break a seal and/or remove a REJECTION/CONDEMNATION tag placed on a weighing or measuring device by an inspector of the Division of Weights and Measures, only to repair the defective device. When the repairing and/or rebuilding is completed, the serviceman must mail the REJECTION/CONDEMNATION tag, together with his report of putting into service, within the prescribed time, to the Commissioner. Out-of-state servicemen shall not remove a REJECTION/CONDEMNATION tag unless he or his agency is registered with Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture.(p) Classes of individual Scale Servicemen and Scale Service Agency Registration. A scale serviceman or service agency shall register for and service only those commercial scales and other commercial weighing and measuring devices within the class(es) he is registered to install, service, repair, or recondition. His classification shall be based on: 1. evidence of competence;2. working knowledge of weighing and measuring devices;3. knowledge of applicable Georgia Weights and Measures Laws, Rules, and Regulations, and NBS HANDBOOK 44, and4. proper and sufficient on-site test weights and other equipment to provide and perform required tests to determine that the device is being properly installed, adjusted, serviced or repaired, and is weighing correctly at the completion of servicing or repair, based on the following classification criteria: (i) Class 1. An individual or agency registered to install, repair, service, test counter and price-computing scales shall have for each registered serviceman a minimum of (1) thirty-pound weight kit, or the equivalent in assorted and sufficient denominations of weights to test to the capacity of the scale.(ii) Class II. An individual or agency registered to install, repair, service, test small scales, portable and monorails, of capacities of up to 1,500 pounds, must have a minimum of 500 pounds of inspected test weights for beam scales, or 1,000 pounds for dial scales.(iii) Class III. Individuals and agencies registered to install, repair, service, test livestock and medium-range scales, up to a capacity of 10,000 pounds, must have a minimum of 5,000 pounds of inspected test weights for scale repair, servicing, or testing purposes.(iv) Class IV. Individuals and agencies registered to install, repair, service or recondition heavy-capacity scales, beyond the capacity of 10,000 pounds, must have a minimum of 12,000 pounds of inspected test weights, or one-tenth (1/10) the load capacity of the scales, or sufficient gross weight to test the scale through the first drop-weight range (if the device is equipped with a dial), whichever is the greater amount.(v) Class V. Shall be limited to those servicemen and service agencies who have 30,000 pounds or more of approved test weights, transported as a single test unit for installing, repairing, servicing, or reconditioning heavy capacity commercial and industrial scales above fifty tons.(vi) Class VI. Individuals and agencies registered to install, repair, service, or recondition railroad track scales shall have for each test crew, available on site, suitable test equipment of not less than 30,000 pounds, or an amount recommended (proposed) in the National Bureau of Standards HANDBOOK 44, as supplemented, whichever is the greater amount. ADDITIONALLY, the test equipment must have with it, or on the person of the individual assigned to use the test equipment, the most recent sealing certificate showing that the test equipment has been sealed on a master scale within the last twelve calendar months.(vii) Class VII. Individuals and agencies registered to install, repair, service, or recondition other types of weighing devices not covered by the above six classes shall provide suitable test equipment, or follow acceptable procedures for testing as outlined in NBS HANDBOOK 44, as supplemented.(6) Each serviceman or service agency shall have a current copy of National Bureau of Standards HANDBOOK 44.(7) Revocation of Registration. The Commissioner of Agriculture may for good cause, after careful investigation and hearing, suspend or revoke a scale serviceman's (or service agency) Certificate of Registration and/or forfeit his bond for any of the following infractions or violations:(a) falsifying applications for registration;(b) failure to comply with NBS HANDBOOK 44 Scale Code, Georgia Weights and Measures Law, or Georgia Weights and Measures Regulations; or,(c) falsifying Report of Test subsequent to installation, servicing or repair.Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 40-15-2-.05
O.C.G.A. Sec. 10-2-5(Ga. L. 1972, p. 654).
Original Rule entitled "Registration of Servicemen and Service Agencies for Commercial Weight and Measuring Devices" was filed on November 30, 1973; effective December 20, 1973.Amended: Filed February 22, 1979; effective March 14, 1979.Amended: Filed March 1, 1984; effective March 21, 1984.