### Weights and Measures Ordinance 《度量衡條例》

1. Short title
This Ordinance may be cited as the Weights and Measures Ordinance.

2. Interpretation
In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires—
authorized officer (獲授權人員) means any public officer authorized by the Commissioner of Customs and Excise under section 4;
authorized unit (認可單位) means a unit of measurement specified in the Second Schedule;

Commissioner (關長) means any of the following— (Amended 65 of 2000 s. 3)
(a) the Commissioner of Customs and Excise;
(b) any Deputy Commissioner of Customs and Excise;
(c) any Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Excise;

container (容器) means any form of packaging of goods for supply as a single item, and includes a wrapper or confining band;
inspection (檢查), in relation to weighing or measuring equipment, includes the examination, testing, comparison and adjustment of it under this Ordinance by an authorized officer;
occupier (佔用人), in relation to any stall, vehicle or vessel or in relation to the use of any building or place for any purpose, means the person for the time being in charge of the stall, vehicle or vessel or, as the case may be, the person for the time being using that building or place for that purpose;
premises (處所) means any building, place, stall, vehicle or vessel;
pre-packed (經預先包裝) means made up for supply by way of retail trade in a container, and pre-pack shall be construed accordingly;
quantity (數量) includes mass or weight, length, width, height, area, volume, capacity and number;
reference standards (參照標準) means the reference standards of weights and measures maintained under section 8;

to supply (供應) includes—
(a) to sell, or to agree to sell;
(b) to offer, advertise, have in possession, expose, transmit, convey, deliver, make, prepare or pre-pack for sale;
(c) to hire or to exchange, or dispose of for any consideration whatsoever; or
(d) to transmit, convey or deliver in pursuance of a sale, hiring, any exchange, or disposal for any consideration whatsoever;

unit of measurement (計量單位) means a unit of measurement of length, height, width, area, volume, capacity, mass or weight;
use for trade (作商業用途), in relation to any weighing or measuring equipment, has the meaning assigned to it by section 10;
vehicle (車輛) means any conveyance used on land whether self-propelled or not;
weighing or measuring equipment (度量衡器具) means any equipment for measuring in terms of quantity, whether or not the equipment is constructed to give an indication of the measurement made or other information determined by reference to that measurement.

### Weights and Measures Ordinance 《度量衡條例》

3. Application
(1) This Ordinance shall apply without prejudice to the Metrication Ordinance (Cap. 214) and to any orders made under that Ordinance.
(2) Unless the Commissioner of Customs and Excise by order in the Gazette so provides, this Ordinance shall not apply to the supply or measurement of—
(a) water, other than in a container; or
(b) the quantity of any goods, other than by mass or weight, length, width, height, area, volume, capacity or number.

4. Appointment of authorized officers
The Commissioner of Customs and Excise may authorize any public officer to exercise or perform any function conferred or imposed on the Commissioner or an authorized officer under any provision of this Ordinance except sections 3, 7, 8 and 38.

5. Power of Chief Executive to give directions
(1) The Chief Executive may give such directions as he thinks fit, either generally or in any particular case, with respect to the exercise or performance by the Commissioner or any authorized officer of any function under this Ordinance.
(2) The Commissioner and every authorized officer shall, in the exercise or performance of any function under this Ordinance, comply with any directions given by the Chief Executive under subsection (1).
(Amended 65 of 2000 s. 3)

6. Units of measurement
(1) The metre shall be the unit of measurement of length and the kilogram shall be the unit of measurement of mass or weight by reference to which any measurement involving a measurement of length, or mass or weight, as the case may be, shall be made in Hong Kong.
(2) The First Schedule shall have effect for defining, for the purposes of measurements to be made in Hong Kong, the units of measurement specified in that Schedule; and for the purposes of any measurement of weight to be so made, the weight of any thing may be expressed, by reference to the units of measurement set out in Part V of that Schedule, in the same terms as its mass.
(3) The units of measurement and the permitted symbols or abbreviations of the units of measurement specified in the Second Schedule shall be lawful for use for trade in Hong Kong.
(4) The weights and measures specified in the Third Schedule shall be lawful for use for trade in Hong Kong.

7. Declaration of equivalent units of measurements
The Commissioner of Customs and Excise may, for the purposes of this Ordinance, determine and declare by order in the Gazette the equivalent of any unit of measurement expressed in any other unit of the same quantity, and any equivalent so declared shall be deemed to be the equivalent of the unit of measurement in question.

### Weights and Measures Ordinance 《度量衡條例》

8. Reference standards of weights and measures
(1) The Commissioner of Customs and Excise may procure and cause to be maintained reference standards of weights and measures, which shall be the reference standards for the purposes of this Ordinance, from which the accuracy of all other standards of measurement used in Hong Kong is derived; and the value of each reference standard, while it remains in use, shall be determined at such intervals as the Commissioner of Customs and Excise considers appropriate.
(2) The reference standards shall consist of such of the weights and measures specified in the Third Schedule as the Commissioner of Customs and Excise considers proper and sufficient, and a reference standard of any linear, volume or capacity measure may—
(a) be provided either as a separate standard or by means of divisions marked on a standard of larger measure; and
(b) either be marked in whole or in part with subdivisions representing any smaller unit of measurement or multiples, submultiples or fractions of such a unit or have no such markings.
(3) The reference standards shall be in the custody of the Commissioner for Innovation and Technology or the Government Chemist who shall lodge them at a Government laboratory. (Amended L.N. 356 of 1991; L.N. 218 of 2000)

9. Damaging or destroying reference standards
Any person who falsifies, or wilfully or maliciously damages or destroys, any reference standard commits an offence.

10. Meaning of use for trade

11. Units of measurement lawful for use for trade
(1) No person shall—
(a) use for trade—
(i) any unit of measurement; or
(ii) with intent to deceive, any symbol or abbreviation of a unit of measurement,
which is not specified in the Second Schedule;
(b) use for trade, or have in his possession for use for trade, any linear measure, square measure, cubic measure, capacity measure or mass or weight measure which is not specified in the Third Schedule.
(2) No person shall use for trade the metric carat unit of measurement except for the purposes of transactions in precious stones or pearls.
(3) No person shall use for trade the troy unit of measurement except for the purposes of transactions in, or in articles made from, gold, silver or other precious metals, including transactions in gold or silver thread, lace or fringe.
(4) Subject to section 15, any person who contravenes any provision of this section commits an offence.

12. Fraud in using for trade weighing or measuring equipment
If any fraud is committed in the using for trade of any weighing or measuring equipment, the person committing the fraud and any other person who is party thereto commits an offence.