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Land Transport Act 1998

Proceedings enforcing responsibilities - Evidence

147: Evidence of accuracy of weighing devices and sites

You could also call this:

“Proof that scales and weighing places were working right when used”

In legal cases about breaking the Land Transport Act or the Road User Charges Act, a special certificate can be used as proof that weighing devices and sites were accurate when the offence happened. This certificate is usually enough evidence unless someone can prove it wrong.

The certificate can say that a weighing device was tested and found to be accurate within 12 months before the offence. Different people can do this testing, like an Inspector of Weights and Measures or someone approved by the Science Minister.

For weighing sites, the certificate can say the site was tested and found accurate within 5 years before the offence. People who can do this testing include employees of the Agency, police officers, or approved laboratory workers.

The certificate needs to identify the weighing device or site it’s talking about. If it’s a portable wheel weigher, it should have the serial number. For a weighbridge or site, it should say where it is.

Copies of these certificates are treated as real unless proven otherwise. The certificates are assumed to be signed by the right person, even if it doesn’t say so on the certificate.

In court, if a weighing device has an official stamp or a certificate saying it’s accurate, this is usually enough to prove it was accurate when the offence happened.

When this law talks about ‘sites’, it doesn’t include weigh-in-motion technology.

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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=DLM435170.

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"Checking if special vehicle weighing tools work correctly"

Part 10 Proceedings enforcing responsibilities
Evidence

147Evidence of accuracy of weighing devices and sites

  1. In proceedings for an offence against this Act or an offence against the Road User Charges Act 2012 (or any regulations made under that Act), the production of a certificate (or a document purporting to be a copy of a certificate) purporting to be signed by a constable or Police employee who is not a constable authorised by the Commissioner in that behalf (either generally or in a particular case) to the effect described in subsection (2) is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, sufficient evidence that the device or site to which the certificate relates has been tested and was accurate on the date of the alleged offence.

  2. A certificate referred to in subsection (1) may be to the effect that,—

  3. on a specified date, being a date not more than 12 months earlier than the date of the alleged offence, a weighing device referred to in the certificate was tested and found to be accurate by—
    1. an Inspector of Weights and Measures; or
      1. an accredited person (within the meaning of the Weights and Measures Act 1987); or
        1. an employee of a laboratory for the time being approved for the purpose by the Science Minister, by notice in the Gazette; or
          1. any other person who is approved for the purpose by the Minister, by notice in the Gazette; or
          2. on a specified date, being a date not more than 5 years earlier than the date of the alleged offence, a site referred to in the certificate was tested or surveyed, and found to be accurate, by—
            1. an employee of the Agency; or
              1. a constable or Police employee who is not a constable; or
                1. an employee or contractor of a laboratory for the time being approved for the purpose by the Science Minister, by notice in the Gazette.

                2. Repealed

                3. A certificate issued under subsection (1) sufficiently identifies the weighing device to which it refers if (in the case of a portable wheel weigher) it contains the serial number of the wheel weigher or if (in the case of a weighbridge or site) it refers to the location of the weighbridge or site.

                4. Every document purporting to be a copy of a certificate issued under this section is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to be presumed to be a true copy.

                5. Every certificate issued under this section is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to be presumed to have been signed by a person duly authorised to sign it; and it is not necessary for any such certificate to show on its face that the person signing it was so authorised.

                6. In proceedings for an offence against this Act or an offence against the Road User Charges Act 2012 (or any regulations made under that Act), evidence that—

                7. a weighing device bore the stamp of a mark of verification under the Weights and Measures Act 1987 indicating that the weighing device had been so stamped; or
                  1. at the time of the alleged offence, there was in force in respect of a weighing device a certificate of accuracy issued under the Weights and Measures Act 1987—
                      1. is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, sufficient evidence that the weighing device was accurate on the date of the alleged offence.

                    1. In this section, site does not include weigh-in-motion technology.

                    Compare
                    Notes
                    • Section 147(1): amended, on , by section 94 of the Road User Charges Act 2012 (2012 No 1).
                    • Section 147(1): amended, on , pursuant to section 116(a)(vii) of the Policing Act 2008 (2008 No 72).
                    • Section 147(1): amended, on , pursuant to section 116(d) of the Policing Act 2008 (2008 No 72).
                    • Section 147(1): amended, on , by section 12 of the Land Transport (Road Safety Enforcement) Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 104).
                    • Section 147(2)(b)(i): amended, on , by section 50(1) of the Land Transport Management Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 47).
                    • Section 147(2)(b)(ii): amended, on , pursuant to section 116(a)(vii) of the Policing Act 2008 (2008 No 72).
                    • Section 147(2)(b)(ii): amended, on , pursuant to section 116(d) of the Policing Act 2008 (2008 No 72).
                    • Section 147(3): repealed, on , by section 55(1) of the Land Transport Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 34).
                    • Section 147(7): amended, on , by section 94 of the Road User Charges Act 2012 (2012 No 1).
                    • Section 147(7): amended, on , by section 12 of the Land Transport (Road Safety Enforcement) Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 104).
                    • Section 147(8): inserted, on , by section 55(2) of the Land Transport Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 34).