PHILIPSBURG–Proper calibration of weights and measures is of paramount importance in ensuring residents are treated fairly and not robbed of their hard-earned cash is one of the goals of National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament Egbert Jurendy Doran. This led him to a working visit to the Calibrations Department of Curaçao.
Doran’s visit was aimed at establishing a better understanding about how the Curaçao department works and to compare this with that of St. Maarten’s department. The MP was accompanied by Curaçao MP Yaël Plet, chairman of his Parliament’s Economic Affairs Committee.
The visit also stems from Doran’s inquiry about the local department’s operations in the budget debate in May. He believes he did not receive a satisfactory answer from the economic affair minister and decided to conduct more research.
Doran was “able to gather quite some information” about the Curaçao operations and he intends to follow up at home “as it is of utmost importance that the consumers on Sint Maarten are assured that everything is being done to protect them from especially overpricing.”
Calibration is testing whether a size, weight, or measuring instrument fully meets the set requirements of the Calibration Law. This includes weighing machines at pharmacies, jewellery stores, supermarkets, petrol dispensers at gas stations, bakeries, laundromats, Post Office, pharmacies, water meters, local packaging, number game balls, cement and concrete companies.
Based on the Calibration Law, government has an obligation to execute calibration on a regular basis as stipulated by law and supervise the statutory requirements, in the interest of both the businesses and the consumers.
Doran “fully intends” to use information gathered to ensure that government does all that is in its power to protect the people “who already have so very much to deal with from especially overpricing in supermarkets.” For this to happen, government needs to ensure there are certified calibrators in the department who can provide this service legally.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/82156-doran-weighs-in-on-need-for-proper-calibration
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