PHILIPSBURG–National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament (MP) Jurendy Doran is not letting up on his push to get a dedicated calibration department established for the country.
Without one that is properly staffed and functioning, consumers are at risk of being ripped off by unscrupulous businesses, said Doran.
Everything from the scales used for food, jewellery, medicines and even drugs confiscated by police must be properly calibrated and regularly checked.
“When last were the scales used by the police checked? If the scales are wrong, this affects justice. The scales on the doctor’s office also need to be checked, because the weight of a person determines now much medicine is given,” Doran said in an interview with The Daily Herald.
He said it is startling that despite the number of bingo and lottery games played in the country nightly, only the balls of one company are checked regularly. “I have learned that only the balls used by Robbie’s Lottery are checked by government and this is because Robbie’s asked for this to ensure transparency.”
St. Maarten’s law on calibration was taken over from the Netherlands Antilles as of October 10, 2010, when the status of country within the Dutch Kingdom was attained. That law dates to 1956 and does not reflect today’s realities, said Doran, whose focus this parliamentary term is on tabling amendments to the law “to secure that consumers get what they pay for.”
In the days of the Netherlands Antilles, the calibration department was run via Curaçao with inspectors visiting St. Maarten periodically for weights-and-measures inspections. That department was retained by Curaçao after the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles and execution of those inspection tasks locally fell to the Economic Affairs Department. That department already has numerous other tasks besides calibration checks, said Doran.
He queried how Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Stuart Johnson came up with his assessment that weights and measures only accounts for 10 per cent of the department’s workload.
“When you look at the long list of business and even government entities inspectors have to visit, how can this be only 10 per cent of the workload? They have to check the scales at every food buffet that sells by the weight. They have to check the airport scales, the Post Office scales, water meters, the supermarkets,” Doran said, calling for the minister to give a proper explanation of his percentage.
Getting a calibration department in place is not a political issue, said the MP. “This is not old-school politics. This department is very important for the people of this country, for all of us. The establishing of this department should not be shoved aside because of where or whom the idea came from,” he said.
The calibration laws in the Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba) are not the same as those in St. Maarten. This begs the question of how effective the application of the training controllers received in Saba recently will be in St. Maarten.
“The BES laws are updated. They have provisions for digital scales, we don’t. Our laws are from the 1950s,” said Doran.
Aside from the application of training, Doran said he wants a clear answer from Johnson about the number of inspectors who attended the training in Saba. Johnson said in Parliament that 10 inspectors of the Economic Affairs Inspectorate were at the course. However, a subsequent news report from Saba only listed three inspectors as attending, said Doran.
Johnson also misinformed Parliament about the fines that can be meted out to businesses cheating customers with their weights and measures, said Doran. “The minister said there are no fines. Only warnings can be issued. But there is no law without consequences and this law does have fines, so what was the minister really saying to Parliament?”
Article 34 of the law states anyone found in violation of the calibration law will be punished “with detention not exceeding one week or a fine of NAf. 200.”
Doran said NAf. 200 had been a hefty fine in 1956. “It is not much today, so this is definitely one of the amendments I will seek,” he said.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/83711-doran-continues-to-press-for-proper-calibration-department
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