[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 105 (Wednesday, June 2, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30780-30781]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-13198]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


National Conference on Weights and Measures 95th Annual Meeting

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Annual Meetings of the 95th National Conference on Weights 
and Measures (NCWM) will be held July 11 to 15, 2010. Publication of 
this notice on the NCWM's behalf is undertaken as a public service; 
NIST does not endorse, approve, or recommend any of the proposals 
contained in this notice or in the publications of the NCWM mentioned 
below. The meetings of the NCWM are open to the public but registration 
is required.

DATES: The meeting will be held on July 11-15, 2010.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Crowne Plaza St. Paul-
Riverfront Hotel, 11 East Kellogg Boulevard, St. Paul, Minnesota 55101.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carol Hockert, Chief, NIST, Weights 
and Measures Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 2600, Gaithersburg, MD 
20899-2600 or by telephone (301) 975-5507 or at [email protected] 
by e-mail. Registration is required to attend this meeting. Please see 
NCWM Pub 16 ``Committee Reports for the 95th National Conference on 
Weights and Measures'' at http://www.ncwm.net or http://www.nist.gov/owm to review the full meeting agenda, registrations forms, and hotel 
reservation information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NCWM is a voluntary organization of 
weights and measures officials of the states, counties, and cities of 
the United States, Federal agencies, and private sector 
representatives. These meetings bring together government officials and 
representatives of business, industry, trade associations, and consumer 
organizations on subjects related to the field of weights and measures 
technology, administration, and enforcement. NIST participates in the 
NCWM to promote uniformity among the states in laws, regulations, 
methods, and testing equipment that comprise the regulatory control of 
commercial weighing and measuring devices and other practices used in 
trade and commerce.
    The following are brief descriptions of some of the significant 
agenda items that will be considered along with other issues at the 
NCWM Annual Meeting. Comments will be taken on these and other issues 
during several public comment sessions. At this stage, the items are 
proposals. This meeting also includes work sessions in which the 
Committees may also accept oral and written comments where they will 
finalize recommendations for NCWM consideration and possible adoption 
at its voting sessions which are tentatively scheduled for July 14 and 
15, 2010. The Committees may withdraw or carry over items that need 
additional development.
    The Specifications and Tolerances Committee (S&T Committee) will 
consider proposed amendments to NIST Handbook 44, ``Specifications, 
Tolerances, and other Technical Requirements for Weighing and Measuring 
Devices (NIST Handbook 44).'' Those items address weighing and 
measuring devices used in commercial applications, that is, devices 
that are normally used to buy from or sell to the public or used for 
determining the quantity of product sold among businesses.
    Issues on the agenda of the NCWM Laws and Regulations Committee 
(L&R Committee) relate to proposals to amend NIST Handbook 130, 
``Uniform Laws and Regulations in the area of legal metrology and 
engine fuel quality'' and NIST Handbook 133 ``Checking the Net Contents 
of Packaged Goods.'' These documents are available on the Internet at 
http://www.nist.gov/owm.
    This notice contains information about significant items on the 
NCWM Committee agendas, but does not include all agenda items. As a 
result, the following items are not consecutively numbered.

NCWM Specifications and Tolerances Committee

    The following items are proposals to amend NIST Handbook 44:

General Code

    Item 310-4. G-A.6. Nonretroactive Requirements (Remanufactured 
Equipment)--The NCWM will consider adoption of a revision to a current 
requirement to clarify the intent of the 2001 decision regarding the 
application of a variety of nonretroactive requirements to devices that 
have been classified to have been ``remanufactured'' (i.e., a device 
that is disassembled, checked for wear, parts replaced or fixed, 
reassembled and made to operate like a new device of the same type) as 
compared with a ``manufactured device'' which is a commercial weighing 
or measuring device shipped as new from the original equipment 
manufacturer.

Scales Code

    Item 320-2. S.1.7. Automatic Zero-Setting Mechanism (AZSM)--The 
NCWM will consider adoption of a proposal to define the acceptable 
operating parameters of the zero-setting functions used on some 
electronic weighing devices. These functions automatically maintain a 
scale's indications at zero when no load is on the device. Existing 
NIST Handbook 44 requirements prohibit some of the zero-setting 
functions found on weighing devices designed and sold for use in other 
countries when those devices are used in commercial applications in the 
U.S. marketplace. The intent of the proposal is to retroactively 
prohibit the use of this feature on scales used in commercial 
transactions.

Vehicle Tank Meter Code

    Item 331-1. T.2.1. Automatic Temperature-Compensating Systems (ATC) 
on Vehicle Tank Meters (These systems may be used on existing vehicle 
mounted meters that are typically used to deliver home heating fuel and 
other products to residential and business consumers.)--The NCWM will 
consider adoption of the proposal to revise the existing tolerances 
applicable to comparisons of test results between compensated and non-
compensated test runs on vehicle tank meters equipped with ATC systems 
to better reflect the actual performance capability of these systems.

[[Page 30781]]

Commercial Hydrogen Gas Measuring Devices

    Item 360-1. Tentative Code for Hydrogen Gas-Measuring Devices--The 
NCWM will consider adoption of a set of specifications, tolerances, and 
other technical requirements as a ``tentative'' code for inclusion in 
NIST Handbook 44 that can be applied on a trial basis to commercial 
measuring equipment used to deliver hydrogen fuel to highway vehicles, 
which are currently operating in 24 states. The code was developed by 
the U.S. National Working Group (USNWG) for the Development of 
Commercial Hydrogen Measurement Standards that included key 
stakeholders and experts in commercial hydrogen measurement, such as 
manufacturers and users of commercial hydrogen measuring equipment, 
fuel suppliers, regulatory officials, and other interested parties. 
Adoption and use of the code on a trial basis is expected to provide 
feedback to the USNWG on how well the draft meets the needs of the 
measurement community in a broad range of applications. The proposed 
tolerances are based on an assessment of the range of accuracy levels 
reported thus far, but require additional evaluation. The 
appropriateness of the tolerance values will be determined in 
conjunction with the evaluation of the other requirements contained in 
this tentative code. Based on the feedback received from its use as a 
tentative code, if needed additional changes, will be included in the 
code prior to it being recommended for adoption as a ``permanent'' (or 
fully enforceable) code in NIST Handbook 44.

NCWM Laws and Regulations Committee

    The following items are proposals to amend NIST Handbook 130:

Method of Sale of Commodities Regulation

    Item 232-2. Method of Sale and Engine Fuel Quality Requirements for 
Hydrogen--The NCWM will consider adoption of a proposal to establish a 
uniform method of sale for hydrogen offered for retail sale as a 
vehicle fuel.
    Item 232-5. Uniform Regulation for Method of Sale of Commodities--
Packaged Printer Ink and Toner Cartridges--This is an informational 
item and it will not be voted on at the 2010 Annual Meeting. The L&R 
Committee will accept comments on this item and then consider 
recommending adoption of a method of sale to clarify the net quantity 
of contents and other labeling requirements for these products. The 
Committee requests that manufacturers and sellers of these products, 
consumers, and weights and measures officials provide comments on the 
draft regulation which is presented in Publication 16.
    Item 232-6. Method of Sale, Section 2.23. Animal Bedding--The NCWM 
will consider adoption of a proposal to amend the current method of 
sale (i.e., a regulation that specifies whether a product may be sold 
by weight, measure, count, or a combination of the three methods to 
facilitate value comparisons by consumers) to accommodate the special 
needs and provisions of granular, pelleted, and other non-compressible 
dry laboratory animal bedding materials sold to commercial end-users in 
the specialized lab animal research industry on a weight or per pound 
basis.
    The following items are proposals to amend NIST Handbook 133 
``Checking the Net Contents of Packaged Goods'':
    Item 260-1. Guidance on Allowing for Moisture Loss and Other 
Revisions--The NCWM will consider adoption of proposed revisions to the 
procedures that handbook users may use to provide for moisture loss in 
packaged goods. Other proposals to amend the handbook include revisions 
of current language, including additional instructions in some test 
procedures, to increase clarity and uniformity. Further discussion of 
the draft revision of the handbook is presented in Publication 16.
    Item 260-2. Seed Count for Agricultural Seeds--The NCWM will 
consider adoption of test procedures for determining actual seed count 
in packages, which may be labeled to contain up to 80,000 seeds, and 
limits on unreasonable quantity variations for addition to the 
handbook. These proposals were developed by seed regulatory officials 
in collaboration with industry for use in verifying the net quantity of 
contents of packages of agricultural seed (specifically corn seed, 
soybean seed, field bean seed, and wheat seed) labeled by ``count.''
    Item 260-6. Moisture Allowance for Pasta Products--The NCWM will 
consider adoption of a proposal for a three percent limit on moisture 
loss for macaroni, noodle, and like products (pasta products). If this 
proposal is adopted, the specified value would be used by weights and 
measures officials to enforce laws related to the accuracy of net 
quantity of contents declaration on packaged goods and to define 
reasonable variations caused by the loss or gain of moisture.

    Dated: May 26, 2010.
Katharine B. Gebbie,
Director, Physics Laboratory.
[FR Doc. 2010-13198 Filed 6-1-10; 8:45 am]
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