The revised rules aim to strengthen consumer protection, promote ease of doing business and align India’s system of verification with international best practices.
As per the Government release, “the Rules introduce clarity regarding jurisdiction by permitting GATCs to verify instruments within districts and across the state and harmonize verification fees through a newly inserted Fifth Schedule.”
The Rules for GATC recognition are aimed at reducing compliance burden and improving transparency, and require applications to be submitted to the Joint Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs with a criteria for inspection, staff qualifications and technical requirements.
The amended rules have significantly broadened the scope of GATCs to cover 18 categories of weighing and measuring instruments, including water meters, energy meters, gas meters, moisture meters, flow meters, sphygmomanometers, and non-automatic weighing instruments. These instruments are:
(1) Water meter
(2) Sphygmomanometer
(3) Clinical thermometer
(4) Automatic rail weighbridges
(5) Tape measures
(6) Non-automatic weighing instruments of Accuracy Class III (upto 150 kg)
(7) Non-automatic weighing instruments of Accuracy Class IIII
(8) Load cell
(9) Beam scale
(10) Counter machine
(11) Weights of all category
(12) Gas meters
(13) Energy meters
(14) Moisture meters
(15) Speed meters for vehicles
(16) Breath analysers
(17) Multi-dimensional measuring instruments
(18) Flow meters
The inclusion of new categories like flow meters, breath analysers, multi-dimensional measuring instruments, and speed guns has been described by the Department as reflective of the need to keep pace with evolving technologies and industrial needs.
The said instruments play a vital role in sectors like healthcare, transport, energy and infrastructure; where precision in measurement directly impacts safety, quality, and consumer confidence.
A release issued by the Department of Consumer Affairs said that the participation of private laboratories and industries as GATCs alongside government facilities will increase verification capacity, improve accessibility and reduce waiting time for industries.
While the recognition of Regional Reference Standard Laboratories (RRSLs) and National Test House (NTH) laboratories as deemed GATCs is aimed at creating a nationwide network for verification of consumer facing instruments, the Department has described the initiative as supportive of the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat by promoting indigenous testing facilities and leveraging public-private partnerships to expand the national verification network.
Regular and decentralized verification of weighing scales, water meters, energy meters, etc. aims to minimize the risk of inaccurate measurements and ensure value for money for consumers, as well as act as a force multiplier for State Legal Metrology Departments, since GATCs undertaking verification work will allow State Legal Metrology Officers to devote more time to inspection, enforcement and redressal of consumer grievances.
Addressing the National Controller’s Conference on 25th October at Goa, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Pralhad Joshi described “the amendment to the Legal Metrology (Government Approved Test Centre) Rules as a major step towards modernizing India’s legal metrology ecosystem” by empowering industry participation, ensuring accurate measurements for consumers and strengthening the hands of enforcement officers.
As an OIML (International Organization of Legal Metrology) Certification Authority, India can now issue internationally accepted OIML certificates, enabling domestic manufacturers to obtain globally recognized certification within the country—something they previously had to rely on foreign authorities for.