PART I. 
GENERAL PROVISIONS



 



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.