[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 96 (Thursday, May 20, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27387-27389]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-10677]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


National Conference on Weights and Measures 106th Annual Meeting

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The 106th Annual Meeting of the National Conference on Weights 
and Measures (NCWM) will be held using a combined video conferencing 
platform for on-line attendance, and in-person at the Hyatt Regency 
Rochester in Rochester, New York, from Sunday, July 18, 2021, through 
Friday, July 23, 2021. This notice contains information about 
significant items on the NCWM Committee agendas but does not include 
all agenda items. As a result, the items are not consecutively 
numbered.

DATES: The 106th Annual Meeting will be held from Sunday, July 18, 
2021, through Friday, July 23, 2021. The meeting schedule will be 
available on the NCWM website at www.ncwm.com.

ADDRESSES: This meeting will be held using a combined video 
conferencing (virtual) platform and in-person at the Hyatt Regency 
Rochester, 125 E Main St., Rochester, New York 14604.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Douglas Olson, NIST, Office of 
Weights and Measures (OWM), 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 2600, Gaithersburg, 
MD 20899-2600. You may also contact Dr. Olson at (301) 975-2956 or by 
email at [email protected]. The meeting is open to the public, but 
a paid registration is required. Please see the NCWM website 
(www.ncwm.com) to view the meeting agendas, registration forms, and 
hotel reservation information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Publication of this notice on the NCWM's 
behalf is undertaken as a public service and does not itself constitute 
an endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology 
(NIST) of the content of the notice. NIST participates in the NCWM as 
an NCWM member and pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 272(b)(10) and (c)(4) and in 
accordance with Federal policy (e.g., OMB Circular A-119 ``Federal 
Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus 
Standards'').
    The NCWM is an organization of weights and measures officials of 
the states, counties, and cities of the United States, and 
representatives from the private sector and federal regulatory 
agencies. These meetings can bring these government officials together 
with representatives of business, industry, trade associations, and 
consumer organizations to discuss proposed laws and regulations and 
other subjects related to the field of weights and measures technology, 
administration, and enforcement. NIST hosted the first meeting of the 
NCWM in 1905. Since then, the conference has provided a model of 
cooperation between Federal, State, and local governments and the 
private sector. NIST participates to encourage cooperation between 
federal agencies and the states in the development of legal metrology 
requirements. NIST also promotes uniformity in state laws, regulations, 
and testing procedures used in the regulatory control of commercial 
weighing and measuring devices, packaged goods, and for other trade and 
commerce issues.
    The NCWM has established multiple Committees, Task Groups, and 
other working bodies to address legal metrology issues of interest to 
regulatory officials, industry, consumers, and others. The following 
are brief descriptions of some of the significant agenda items that 
will be considered by some of the NCWM Committees 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 will also have a voting session to ratify results of 
the 105th NCWM Annual Meeting virtual Vote. 85 FR 77170 (Dec. 1, 2020). 
The NCWM was unable to conduct an in-person meeting due to the COVID-19 
pandemic and therefore held the 105th Annual Meeting using a video 
conferencing platform. Under the NCWM Bylaws and Roberts Rules of Order 
in effect at the time of the 105th NCWM Annual Meeting, items approved 
by a virtual vote are effective upon ratification at the next in-person 
meeting. NCWM petitioned the District Court of Lancaster County, 
Nebraska and received a court order allowing conducting virtual votes 
to ratify the results of the 105th NCWM Annual Meeting and to conduct 
virtual votes of all items of the 106th Annual Meeting.
    These notices are intended to make interested parties aware of 
these development projects and to make them aware that reports on the 
status of the project will be given at the 2021 Annual Meeting. The 
notices are also presented to invite the participation of 
manufacturers, experts, consumers, users, and others who may be 
interested in these efforts.
    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 HB 44). Those items address weighing and measuring 
devices used in commercial applications, that is, devices that are used 
to buy from or sell to the public or used for determining the quantity 
of products or services 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 Areas of Legal Metrology and Fuel Quality'' (NIST HB 130) and NIST 
Handbook 133, ``Checking the Net Contents of Packaged Goods'' (NIST HB 
133).

NCWM S&T Committee (S&T 106th Annual Meeting)

    The following items are proposals to amend NIST HB 44:

Block 2 Items (B2) Define True Value for Use in Error Calculations

BLK-2: (SCL-20.3, SCL-20.4, SCL-20.5, SCL-20.6, SCL-20.7, and SCL-20.8)
    The S&T Committee will further consider a proposal that has been 
designated as an ``Assigned'' item, meaning that further development 
will be done by a Task Group formed by the NCWM. The Task Group 
assigned to this item has submitted a ``Final Report'' to the 
Committee; however, the Task Group noted also that the report may 
benefit from further vetting. This ``block'' proposal includes six 
individual items related to the application of requirements based on 
that application to either ``e'' (the verification scale division) or 
``d'' (the minimum scale division). Adoption of this proposal will have 
a significant effect on the regulation of scales, particularly where 
the values of ``e'' and ``d'' are not equal.

[[Page 27388]]

SCL--Scales

SCL-17.1 S.1.8.5. Recorded Representations, Point of Sale (POS) Systems
S.1.8.5. Recorded Representations, POS Systems, Appendix D--
Definitions: Tare
    Following a vote to not adopt this proposal during the 2020 NCWM 
Annual Meeting, this item was returned to the S&T Committee. This 
proposal would require additional sales information to be recorded by 
cash registers interfaced with a weighing element for items that are 
weighed at a checkout stand (i.e., a POS system). These systems are 
currently required to record the net weight, unit price, total price, 
and the product class, or in a system equipped with price look-up 
capability, the product name or code number. The change proposed would 
add ``tare weight'' to the sales information currently required. There 
was a presumption by the S&T Committee following the vote in January 
2021, that last minute amendments to the proposal possibly resulted in 
the failure to be adopted.
    Changes in this proposal are presented as a nonretroactive 
requirement with an enforcement date of January 1, 2022. Adoption of 
this proposal would require additional information (i.e., the tare 
weight) to appear on the sales receipt for items weighed at a checkout 
stand (POS Systems) on equipment installed into commercial service as 
of January 1, 2022. This proposed change would not affect equipment 
already in service.
SCL-20.12 Multiple Sections To Add Vehicle Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) to the 
Code and Appendix D
    During the 2020 NCWM Annual Meeting, the Committee supported the 
proposal as being fully developed; however, the most recent version of 
the proposal may not have been given sufficient time to be vetted among 
the weights and measures community. The proposal was, however, given a 
voting status at the 2021 NCWM Interim Meeting. The S&T Committee will 
consider this proposal that would amend multiple sections in NIST HB 44 
Scales Code so that it could be applied to WIM vehicle scales. This 
proposal is similar to another item that was withdrawn during the 2021 
NCWM Interim Meeting (former item SCL-16.1). However, this proposal 
would only permit commercial weights from WIM equipment when the 
vehicles are weighed as a single draft and would not allow the summing 
of axle weights or axle group weights to determine a gross vehicle 
weight. The submitter of this proposal had provided an opportunity in 
March 2020 for several state regulatory officials, NCWM, and NIST OWM 
to witness testing performed on a single-draft vehicle scale. That 
demonstration provided results that this type of system is capable of 
producing weight values that comply with current NIST HB 44 Class III L 
tolerances.

Block 4 Items (B4) Electronically Captured Tickets or Receipts

    The S&T Committee will consider a proposal to permit electronic 
captured tickets and receipts in NIST HB 44 Sections 1.10. General, 
3.30. LMD, 3.31. VTM, 3.32. LPG, 3.34. CLM, 3.37. MFM, 3.38. CDL, 3.39. 
HGM, and 3.35. milk meters codes, and Appendix D Definitions to add 
electronic to the definition of recorded representation. The proposed 
language removes the term printed and replaces it with recorded 
representation so that there is an option to receive a printed ticket/
receipt or an electronic ticket/receipt. The language was changed 
during the Interim Meeting based on comments expressing the need for 
printed tickets and now the proposal references NIST HB 44 G-S.5.6. in 
various specific codes. At the 2021 Interim Meeting, the S&T Committee 
designated this as a developing item for further comment and 
consideration.

OTH-21.1 Appendix A--2.1. Acceptance and Maintenance Tolerances

    The S&T Committee will consider a proposal recommended to clarify 
if acceptance tolerances are to be applied to devices that have 
undergone routine accuracy adjustment not initiated by an official 
rejection. The submitter of this proposal submitted a different 
proposal in 2019 that was withdrawn by the Committee. However, the 
submitter has submitted a new item to fulfill that same purpose.
    This item would amend NIST HB 44 Appendix A (Fundamental 
Considerations), section 2.1. to delete the verbiage ``or adjusted'' in 
the second paragraph of that section. The proposal would also add 
language in the same sentence stating, ``. . . equipment returned to 
service following official rejection, or equipment undergoing NTEP 
evaluation,'' to clarify when it is appropriate to apply acceptance 
tolerances.
    The Committee accepted additional wording to the proposed language 
at the 2021 Interim Meeting and gave this item a Voting status for the 
2021 Annual Meeting.

Block 5 Items (B5) Category 3 Methods of Sealing Blk-5: (LMD-20.1 W, 
LMD-21.1 D)

    The S&T Committee will consider a proposal to permit the use of an 
electronic log in lieu of a printed copy of a Category 3 sealing method 
on liquid measuring devices. The current ``Category 3'' sealing 
requirements in NIST HB 44 Liquid-Measuring Devices Code (Section 
3.30.) specify that a printed copy of an event logger must be available 
on demand through the device or through another on-site device and that 
the information may also be available electronically. The new proposal 
would amend the language in Table S.2.2. ``Categories of Device and 
Methods of Sealing'' of the Liquid-Measuring Devices Code (Section 
3.30.) to permit either a printed or electronic form of the event 
logger to be made available. At the 2021 Interim Meeting, the Committee 
agreed to withdraw item LMD-20.1 from the block that was a similar 
proposal and designated this item as a developing item so that the 
submitters of both items could work together to further develop item 
LMD-21.1. EVF-21.4
S.3.3. Provision for Sealing
    The S&T Committee will consider a proposal that will permit those 
systems that feature either a Category 2 or Category 3 method of 
sealing metrological features to provide that information in an 
electronic format during an inspection by weights and measures 
officials, in lieu of an electric vehicle fueling system providing a 
printed copy of its audit trail event records. At the 2021 Interim 
Meeting, the S&T Committee agreed to a voting status for this item at 
the 2021 Annual Meeting.
EVF-21.6 Definitions: Minimum Measured Quantity (MMQ)
    The S&T Committee will consider a proposal to include a definition 
in NIST HB 44 Section 3.40. Electric Vehicle Fueling Systems--Tentative 
code to address the special meaning of MMQ for these systems in that it 
is the smallest unit declared by the manufacturer that is suitable for 
delivery and that will be in compliance. At the 2021 Interim Meeting, 
the S&T Committee designated these as Voting Items at the 2021 Annual 
Meeting.

NCWM L&R Committee

    Issues on the 106th Annual agenda of the NCWM Laws and Regulations 
Committee (L&R Committee) relate to proposals to amend NIST HB 130.
    The following items are proposals for modifying NIST HB 130 Uniform

[[Page 27389]]

Method of Sale (MOS) and the Uniform Fuels and Automotive Lubricants 
Regulation (FLR):

Item Block (B1)--NIST HB 130, PAL-19.1. UPLR, Sec. 2.8. Multiunit 
Package. NET-19.2. NIST HB 133

    Modify ``scope'' for Chapters 2 through 4, add a note following 
Sections 2.3.7.1. and 2.7.3., NET-19.3. and create a Chapter 5. 
Specialized Test Procedures in NIST HB 133. The L&R Committee will also 
be addressing a proposal to include adoption of a test procedure for 
the total quantity declaration on multiunit or variety packages. In 
addition, in NIST HB 130, Uniform Packaging and Labeling Regulation, 
the proposal would clarify Section 2.8. Multiunit.
Item MOS-20.5 Section 2.21 Liquefied Petroleum Gas
    The L&R Committee will consider a proposal to modify the existing 
language for the method of sale of Liquefied Petroleum Gas. The 
language was changed during the NCWM Interim Meeting and is a Voting 
Item. Recommended changes to the existing language reference a value of 
``15.6 [deg]C'' for temperature determinations in metric units. 
According to the current industry practice for sales of petroleum 
products, the reference temperature for sales in metric are based on 15 
[deg]C rather than the exact conversion from 60 [deg]F (which is 15.6 
[deg]C). Thus, the temperature reference in metric should be 15 [deg]C.
Item--FLR-20.5 Section 2.1.2.(a) Gasoline-Ethanol Blends
    The L&R Committee will consider a proposal to modify the existing 
NIST HB130 FLR, Sec. 2.1.2.(a) Gasoline-Ethanol Blends to include a 
statement to clarify the maximum vapor pressure limits by more than 1.0 
psi for blends ``containing at least 9 and not more than 15 vol % 
ethanol'' from June 1 through September 15 as allowed by EPA 40 CFR 
80.27(d).
    The Fuels and Lubricants Subcommittee will consider modifications 
to modify Item Block 3--MOS 21.1. and FLR-21.2 Labeling and 
Identification of Transmission Fluid, a proposal to modify the language 
to include a cautionary statement of package labels of obsolete 
transmission fluids.

    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 272(b).

Alicia Chambers,
NIST Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2021-10677 Filed 5-19-21; 8:45 am]
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