Weights and Measures Act 1975 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 1 · Preliminary
2. Interpretation
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2025. 3 amendments in all.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —[Deleted by Act 13 of 2025 wef 01/07/2025][Deleted by Act 31 of 2022 wef 01/06/2024]
Except where the context otherwise requires, any reference in this Act to any person, other than a reference to an Authorised Verifier or inspector, is to be construed as a reference to that person or some other person acting on that person’s behalf in the matter in question.
“Accuracy Label” means a mark referred to in section 7(2)(d)(ii) for use as evidence of the passing of any weighing or measuring instrument as fit for use for trade;
use for trade
“use for trade” means, subject to subsection (2), use in Singapore in connection with, or with a view to, a transaction for —(a)the transferring or rendering of money or money’s worth in consideration of money or money’s worth; or(b)the making of a payment in respect of any toll or duty,where —(c)the transaction is by reference to quantity or is a transaction for the purposes of which there is made or implied a statement of the quantity of goods to which the transaction relates; and(d)the use is for the purpose of the determination or statement of that quantity.(2) Subsection (1) does not apply where —(a)the determination or statement is a determination or statement of the quantity of goods required for despatch to a destination outside Singapore; and(b)no transfer or rendering of money or money’s worth is involved other than the passing of the title to the goods and the consideration therefor.(3) Any weighing or measuring instrument which is made available in Singapore for use by the public, whether on payment or otherwise, is to be treated for the purposes of this Part as weighing or measuring instrument in use for trade, whether or not it would apart from this subsection be so treated. For the purposes of this Act,
“Authorised Verifier” means any person appointed by the Commission under section 29A;
“catch weight goods” means goods that —
are enclosed in a package;
cannot be portioned to a predetermined quantity because of their nature; and
are usually sold in varying quantities;
“check-weighed”, in relation to any vehicle, means weighed with its load by means of the nearest suitable and available weighing instrument, and weighed again after it has been unloaded by means of the same or other suitable weighing instrument;
“Commission” means the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore established by section 3 of the Competition Act 2004;
“constructional use”, in relation to any goods, means the use of those goods in constructional work in the course of the carrying on of a business;
“container” includes any form of packaging of goods for sale as a single item, whether by way of wholly or partly enclosing the goods or by way of attaching the goods to, or winding the goods round, some other article, and in particular includes a wrapper or confining band;
“contravention”, in relation to any requirement, includes a failure to comply with that requirement, and cognate expressions are to be construed accordingly;
“Controller” means the Controller of Weights and Measures appointed under section 29 and includes any officer duly authorised by the Controller to act on his or her behalf;
“desiccating goods” means any goods made up in a package that lose weight or volume solely through evaporation when the package is made up;
“food” has the meaning given by section 4 of the Food Safety and Security Act 2025;
“gross weight”, in relation to any goods, means the aggregate weight of the goods and any container in or on which they are made up;
“inadequate package” means a package enclosing goods that contain less than the quantity stated on the package or a label attached to the package, where the deficiency is more than twice the amount of error prescribed for the purpose of this definition;
“indication of quantity”, in relation to any container in or on which goods are made up, means a written statement to the effect that those goods are of, or of not less than, a specified quantity by net weight, gross weight or other measurement or by number, as the case may require;
“industrial use”, in relation to any goods, means the use of those goods in the manufacture of, or for incorporation in, goods of a different description in the course of the carrying on of a business;
“inspector” means an inspector of weights and measures appointed under section 29;
“international definition”, in relation to any unit of measurement, means the definition of that unit recognised by the General Conferences of Weights and Measures from time to time convened by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures;
“lot of packages” means a collection of packages enclosing goods that —
are of the same kind;
are of the same stated weight, measure or number; and
are available for inspection at the same time and place;
“mark” includes label;
“non-standard package” means a package enclosing goods that contains less than the quantity stated on the package or a label attached to it, where the deficiency is more than the amount of error prescribed for the purpose of this definition but not more than twice that prescribed amount of error;
“occupier”, in relation to any stall, vehicle, ship or aircraft or in relation to the use of any place for any purpose, means the person for the time being in charge of the stall, vehicle, ship or aircraft or (as the case may be) the person for the time being using that place for that purpose;
“premises”, except in section 28(3), includes any place and any stall, vehicle, ship or aircraft;
“prepacked” means made up in advance ready for retail sale in or on a container; and on any premises where articles of any description are so made up, or are kept or stored for sale after being so made up, any article of that description found made up in or on a container is deemed to be prepacked unless the contrary is proved; and it is not sufficient proof of the contrary to show that the container has not been marked in accordance with the requirements of this Act or any subsidiary legislation made under this Act with respect to the prepacking of such articles;
“sale by retail” means a sale to a person buying for the person’s own use or consumption;
“ship” includes any boat and any other description of vessel used in navigation;
“stamp” means a mark referred to in section 7(2)(d)(i) for use as evidence of the passing of any weighing or measuring instrument as fit for use for trade;
“supply”, in relation to a weighing or measuring instrument, includes —
selling the weighing or measuring instrument, whether by wholesale or retail or otherwise;
supplying the weighing or measuring instrument by way of exchange, lease, loan, hire or hire-purchase;
supplying the weighing or measuring instrument, whether with or without charge, by way of sample or otherwise;
offering or exposing the weighing or measuring instrument for sale or supply; and
keeping or having the weighing or measuring instrument for the purpose of selling or supplying it to someone else;
“weighing or measuring instrument” means an instrument for measuring in terms of length, area, volume, capacity, weight or number, whether or not the instrument is constructed to give an indication of the measurement made or other information determined by reference to that measurement, and includes any article used as a weighing or measuring instrument.