Road Traffic Act, 1961

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Annual inspection and verification of taximeters.

83.—(1) The definition of “measuring instrument” contained in section 35 of the Weights and Measures Act, 1889, as extended by section 10 of the Weights and Measures Act, 1928 , shall be and is hereby extended so as to include a taximeter, and the said section 35 shall have effect accordingly.

(2) The powers and duties of inspectors of weights and measures appointed by the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen,

and Burgesses of Dublin or by the Corporation of Dún Laoghaire shall not extend to or include the inspection, testing, verification or stamping of taximeters.

(3) The Commissioner may from time to time appoint so many members of the Garda Síochána to be inspectors of measuring instruments (in this section referred to as special inspectors) for the purposes of the inspection, verification and stamping of taximeters as he thinks necessary and the Minister for Finance sanctions, and the following provisions shall have effect in relation to special inspectors:

(a) the Commissioner may suspend or dismiss any special inspector from his office as special inspector;

(b) a member of the Garda Síochána shall not be appointed to be a special inspector unless he possesses either a certificate under section 8 of the Weights and Measures Act, 1904, or a special inspector's certificate granted in accordance with regulations made by the Minister for Industry and Commerce under this section;

(c) an ex-officio inspector of weights and measures may be appointed to be a special inspector and when so appointed may, if the Commissioner so directs, continue to be an ex-officio inspector of weights and measures;

(d) a special inspector shall, in relation to the inspection, verification and stamping of taximeters, have all the powers and perform all the duties conferred or imposed on an inspector or an ex-officio inspector of weights and measures by the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1936, but without any restriction as to the area or district in which those powers may be exercised or those duties are to be performed by the special inspector;

(e) references in the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1936, to an inspector or an ex-officio inspector of weights and measures shall, in relation to the inspection, verification and stamping of taximeters, be construed as including references to a special inspector, and those Acts shall have effect accordingly;

(f) the Commissioner shall provide a special inspector with such standards and equipment as are necessary for the performance by him of his duties as a special inspector;

(g) there shall be paid in respect of the verification and stamping of taximeters by special inspectors such fees as may be appointed by regulations made under this section by the Minister for Industry and Commerce with the consent of the Minister for Finance, and every such fee shall be payable by the person appointed in that behalf by those regulations;

(h) all fees payable under this section in respect of the verification and stamping of taximeters by special inspectors shall be paid to the Commissioner and disposed of by him in accordance with this Act, save that such proportion (if any) of the fees as the Minister for Finance directs shall be paid into the Garda Síochána Reward Fund.

(4) In addition to the powers conferred by section 8 of the Weights and Measures Act, 1889, as extended by section 6 of the Weights and Measures Act, 1904, the Minister for Industry and Commerce shall be entitled to charge on the comparison and verification of the standards and equipment provided by the Commissioner under this section such fees as he may, after consultation with the Minister and with the approval of the Minister for Finance, appoint.

(5) The power of making general regulations vested in the Minister for Industry and Commerce by virtue of section 5 of the Weights and Measures Act, 1904, shall include power to make, after consultation with the Minister, general regulations with respect to the provision and maintenance of standards and equipment by the Commissioner under this section and the verification of such standards and equipment and with respect to the guidance of special inspectors in the execution and performance of their duties under this section, and the said section 5 shall have effect accordingly.

(6) This section shall be construed as one with the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1936, and those Acts and this section may be cited together as the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 to 1961.