PHILIPSBURG--A total of 353 calibration checks of scales and other weights and measures have been executed collectively at supermarkets, gas stations, pharmacies and Princess Juliana International Airport so far this year.
Three quarters of the checks are at supermarkets.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs TEATT Inspection Department calibration duties were the focus of Parliament’s third question hour on Thursday afternoon. The main questions on the topic were raised by National Alliance Member of Parliament (MP) Egbert Doran with follow-ups by NA leader MP Silveria Jacobs.
One of Doran’s main queries was whether government plans to establish a separate calibration department, thus taking this task away from the TEATT Inspection Department. TEATT Minister Stuart Johnson said this was not necessary, as calibration accounts for only 10 per cent of the department’s workload.
That workload is shared among 10 trained inspectors. A training for these inspectors as well as those of the Caribbean Netherlands was concluded in Saba on Thursday. Prior to this, a one-week training was administered in 2014 by a representative of the Curaçao Calibration Department, an entity Doran visited more than a month ago. That trip sparked his questions about the local calibration operations.
Inspectors will head to the Netherlands in April 2019 for a more in-depth training, Johnson told Parliament.
Jacobs queried how often inspections were carried out and whether there were sufficient laws in place to tackle weights-and-measures crimes. Supermarkets are controlled on average once a year while gas stations and the airport are checked twice a year, according to Johnson.
The laws governing calibration are sufficient, Johnson said, citing that these are the same laws applied in Curaçao. Both St. Maarten and Curaçao took over the laws of the Netherlands Antilles when that country within the Dutch Kingdom was dissolved on October 10, 2010.
This was Parliament’s third question hour since this feature was added to its Rules of Order. All three sessions saw Johnson summoned to Parliament to answer questions.
