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Weights and Measures Act 1987

Offences and penalties

33: Penalties

You could also call this:

“What happens if you break the weights and measures rules”

If you break the rules about weights and measures, you can get in trouble. Here’s what can happen:

If you do something that’s called an “infringement offence”, you might have to pay up to $10,000 if you’re found guilty or if you say you did it.

There’s a special rule in section 32(a). If you break that rule, you could go to jail for up to 3 months or have to pay up to $10,000.

For any other rule-breaking in this law, the punishment depends on whether you’re a person or a company:

If you’re a person, you might have to pay up to $10,000. If you keep breaking the rule, you might have to pay an extra $100 for each day you keep doing it.

If you’re a company, you might have to pay up to $30,000. If your company keeps breaking the rule, you might have to pay an extra $250 for each day it keeps happening.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM102948.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal law Money and consumer rights > Consumer protection Business > Fair trading
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32C: Payment of infringement fees, or

"How to pay fines for breaking rules about weights and measures"

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33A: Infringement fee, or

"This part about rule-breaking fines has been taken out of the law"

Part 6 Offences and penalties

33Penalties

  1. Every person who commits an infringement offence is, on being found guilty of, or on pleading guilty to, the offence, liable to a fine not exceeding $10,000.

  2. Every person who commits an offence against section 32(a) is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to a fine not exceeding $10,000.

  3. Every person who commits any other offence against this Act is liable on conviction,—

  4. in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding $10,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $100 for every day or part of a day on which the offence has continued; and
    1. in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding $30,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $250 for every day or part of a day on which the offence has continued.

      Notes
      • Section 33: replaced, on , by section 16 of the Weights and Measures Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 145).