
1 

(1) This Order may be cited as the 
Weights and Measures Act 1963 (Cheese, Fish, Fresh Fruits and Vegetables,
Meat and Poultry) Order 1984 and shall come
into operation on 1st September 1984.
(2) The 
Weights and Measures Act 1963 (Cheese) Order 1977
is hereby revoked.
2 
In this Order—
 “cheese”
means cheese, whether or not containing flavouring or
colouring matter, and whether or not coated or mixed with other food for the
purpose of giving the cheese a distinctive appearance or flavour, and includes
processed cheese and cheese spread;
 “countable produce”
means fruit or vegetables specified in 
Part I of Schedule 1 to this Order;
 “meat”
means any part of an animal of any of the following
descriptions, that is to say, cattle, sheep and swine; and
 “soft fruits”
means fruits of the following descriptions, that is
to say, bilberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, boysenberries, brambles,
cherries, cranberries, gooseberries, loganberries, mulberries, raspberries,
redcurrants, strawberries, tayberries and whitecurrants.
3 

(1) Except as mentioned in 
paragraph (2) below, 
Parts I, II, 
VII and XII of Schedule 4
to the Act shall cease to have effect.
(2) Part VII
of Schedule 4 to the Act shall cease to have
effect in relation to potatoes on 2nd September 1984.
4 

(1) This Article applies to food of any of
the following descriptions that is to say:—
(a) cheese;
(b) fish, meat or poultry of any description,
whether fresh, chilled, frozen, salted, cooked or processed;
(c) sausage-meat in any form, whether cooked
or uncooked; and
(d) any article which, though it also contains
other food, consists substantially of fish, meat, poultry or sausage-meat,
other than dripping, lard, fish paste, meat paste, poultry paste
and shredded suet, and any reference in this Article to poultry includes a
reference to any part of any poultry.
(2) Subject to paragraphs (7) to (9) below, any
food to which this Article applies which is not pre-packed, shall, if sold
by retail, be sold only—
(a) by net weight; or
(b) if it is sold in a container which does
not exceed the appropriate permitted weight specified in 
Table A of Schedule 2 to this Order, either
by net weight or by gross weight.
(3) Subject to 
paragraphs (7) and (8)
below, any food (other than cheese and fish) to which this Article applies
shall, if sold otherwise than by retail, be sold only—
(a) by net weight; or
(b) if it is sold in a container which does
not exceed the appropriate permitted weight specified in 
Table A of Schedule 2 to this Order, either
by net weight or by gross weight.
(4) Subject to 
paragraph (7) below, any food (other than cheese)
to which this Article applies shall be pre-packed only if the container is
marked with an indication of quantity by net weight:Provided that there shall be exempted from the requirements
of this paragraph any food in a quantity of less than 5 g.
(5) Subject to 
paragraph (9) below—
(a) processed cheese;
(b) cheese spread; and
(c) natural cheese of any of the following
descriptions, that is to say, Caerphilly, Cheddar, Cheshire, Derby, Double
Gloucester, Dunlop, Edam, Gouda, Lancashire, Leicestershire and Wensleydale,
shall be pre-packed only if the container is marked with an indication
of quantity by net weight.
(6) On or after 1st January 1986, cheese
of any description other than that specified in 
paragraph (5) above shall be pre-packed only
if the container is marked with an indication of quantity by net weight:Provided that there shall be exempted from the requirements
of this paragraph—
(a) whole Stilton cheese;
(b) any cheese in a quantity of less than
25 g and more than 10 kg; and
(c) any cheese sold by gross weight in a
container which does not exceed the appropriate permitted weight specified
in Table A of Schedule 2
to this Order, if the quantity is made known to the buyer before he pays for
or takes possession of the goods.
(7) There shall be exempted from the requirements
of paragraphs (2) to (4)
of this Article—
(a) bath chaps, meat pies, meat puddings,
poultry pies and sausage rolls;
(b) any other goods (other than cheese) in
a quantity of less than 5 g.
(8) There shall be exempted from the requirements
of paragraphs (2) and 
(3) of this Article—
(a) cooked poultry;
(b) shellfish in shell, jellied fish, pickled
fish and fried fish;
(c) any sale of fish made otherwise than
from a market, shop, stall or vehicle;
(d) single cooked sausages in natural casings
less than 500 g in weight; and
(e) sausage-meat products other than in sausage
form when offered or exposed for sale as a single item in a quantity of less
than 500 g.
(9) There shall be exempted from the requirements
of paragraphs (2) and 
(5) of this Article any cheese in a quantity
of less than 25 g.
5 

(1) This Article applies to food consisting
of fruits or vegetables of any description, other than potatoes,—
(a) in the state in which they were harvested;

(b) in the said state apart from cleaning
or trimming;
(c) in the case of beetroots, in the said
state apart from having been cooked; or
(d) in the case of peas, in the said state
apart from having been shelled.
(2) Where fruits or vegetables of any description
to which this Article applies have been divided into pieces or have had part
thereof removed or both, then, subject to paragraph
7 below, paragraph
6 shall apply to any food consisting of, or
including any part of, any of those fruits or vegetables which have not been
subjected to any further process.
(3) Subject to paragraphs (7) to (9) below, fruits
and vegetables of any description, other than soft fruits and mushrooms, shall
be pre-packed only if the container is marked with an indication of quantity
by net weight or, in the case of countable produce, either by net weight or
by number.
(4) Subject to 
paragraphs (7) and (9)
below, fruits and vegetables of any description, other than soft fruits and
mushrooms, which are not pre-packed, shall, if sold by retail, be sold only
by net weight or, in the case of countable produce, either by net weight or
by number.
(5) Subject to 
paragraph (7) below, any fruits or vegetables
consisting of soft fruits or mushrooms shall, if sold by retail, be sold only—

(a) by net weight; or
(b) if the food is sold in a container which
does not exceed the appropriate permitted weight specified in 
Table B of Schedule 2 to this Order, either
by net weight or by gross weight,and the quantity shall be made known to the buyer before he pays
for or takes possession of the food.
(6) Any food to which this paragraph applies
by virtue of paragraph (2)
above, shall—
(a) if not pre-packed and if sold by retail,
be sold only by net weight; or
(b) be pre-packed only if the container is
marked with an indication of quantity by net weight.
(7) The following shall be exempted from
any requirement of paragraph (3), 
(4) or (5)
above which would otherwise apply thereto, that is to say—
(a) food pre-packed in the same container
with other goods (except potatoes) to which none of those requirements applies;

(b) food pre-packed in the same container
with goods of two or more other descriptions to which some requirement of
this Article would otherwise apply or which include potatoes;and there shall be exempted from all requirements of this Article
any goods in a quantity of less than 5 g or more than 5 kg.
(8) There shall be exempted from the requirements
of paragraph (3)
above a pre-packed collection of not more than eight articles of countable
produce, if the container is such that all the articles can be clearly seen
by a prospective buyer.
(9) There shall be exempted from the requirements
of paragraphs (3) and 
(4) above any vegetables specified in 
Part II of Schedule 1 to this Order, if sold
in a bunch.
(10) Where at any premises other than a vehicle
or ship any food to which this Article applies has been sold by weight when
made up in a container, and the sale is otherwise than by retail, the buyer
may require all or any of the following weighing to be carried out at those
premises, that is to say—
(a) a weighing of that container while the
food is therein;
(b) a weighing of that container after the
removal of the food therefrom;
(c) a weighing of a similar container which
is empty,and thereupon the seller shall either carry out or permit the buyer
to carry out the weighing or weighings so required; and if the seller without
reasonable cause contravenes this requirement he shall be guilty of an offence.

(11) The occupier of any premises at which
any food to which this Article applies is made up in a container for sale
by weight otherwise than by retail, or of any premises (other than a vehicle
or ship) at which such food so made up is so sold, shall provide suitable
weighing equipment and make that equipment available for any weighing or weighings
required under the foregoing paragraph to be carried out at those premises;
and if he without reasonable cause contravenes any of the requirements of
this paragraph he shall be guilty of an offence.
(12) Except as provided in 
paragraph (13) below, any person guilty of
an offence under paragraph (10)
or (11) above shall be liable
on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £2,000.
(13) Any person guilty of such an offence
committed before 1st May 1984 shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine
not exceeding £1,000.
6 
Nothing in this Order shall require any container to be marked
with any information if all the following provisions are satisfied:—

(a) the contents of the container in which
any foods to which this Order applies are pre-packed consist of two or more
packs of goods;
(b) where any pack, if sold individually,
would be required by the Order to be marked with an indication as to the quantity
of the goods, the pack is so marked;
(c) 
(i) the container is marked with a description
of the goods in each pack, the total number of packs containing goods of each
description and where paragraph (b)
above applies with an indication as to the quantity of the goods in each such
pack; or
(ii) where each pack to which 
paragraph (b) above applies contains the same
quantity of identical goods, an indication as to the quantity of the goods
in at least one such packs is clearly visible, and the total number of such
packs is clearly visible and capable of being easily counted, through the
container; or
(iii) where each pack does not contain goods
of the same description or does contain such goods but does not contain them
in the same quantity, an indication as to the quantity of any goods in each
pack to which paragraph (b)
above applies, or if there are two or more identical such packs an indication
as to the quantity of the goods in at least one of them, is clearly visible,
and the total number of such packs of each description is clearly visible
and capable of being easily counted, through the container.
7 

(1) A person specified in 
paragraph (2) below in the cases specified
in that paragraph shall not be guilty of an offence under 
section 22(2) of the Act by reason only of
the fact that the foods specified in the preceding Articles of this Order
are not pre-packed or sold by retail in accordance with the provisions of
this Order, if the foods would be pre-packed or sold by retail as the case
may be in accordance with the provisions of the Order revoked by this Order,
if the former Order were not revoked by this Order, or in accordance with
the provisions of Schedule 4
to the Act if Article 3
above were not to apply.
(2) The cases and persons referred to in 
paragraph (1) above are—
(a) in the case of foods pre-packed in Great
Britain on or before 1st January 1986 and of foods imported pre-packed into
Great Britain on or before that date, all persons;
(b) in the case of foods pre-packed in Great
Britain, after that date and of foods imported pre-packed into Great Britain
after that date, all persons other than—
(i) where the foods were pre-packed in Great
Britain, the person who pre-packed them and if he pre-packed them on behalf
of another person, that other person;
(ii) where the foods were imported into Great
Britain, the person who imported them and if he imported them on behalf of
another person, that other person;
(c) in the case of foods, which are not pre-packed
but which are sold by retail in Great Britain on or before 1st July 1985,
all persons.
(3) The provisions of 
paragraphs (1) and (2)
above shall cease to have effect after 30th June 1986.
Alexander Fletcher
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Department of Trade and Industry
17th August 1984
SCHEDULE 1
Articles 2 and 
5(9)
PART I


COUNTABLE PRODUCE

Apples Garlic Passion fruit

Apricots Grapefruit Pawpaw

Artichokes (globe) Guavas Peaches

Aubergines  Pears
Avocados
 Kiwi fruit Pineapple
 Kohlrabi Plums

Bananas  Pomegranates
Beetroots (including cooked) Lemons Pomelo

 Lettuce Pumpkins
Cabbage 
Limes 
Cauliflower  Radishes

Capsicum Mangoes 
Celery
 Marrows 
Shaddock
Coconuts Melons Soft
citrus fruits
Corn on the
cob  
Cucumber 
Nectarines Tomatoes
  

Fennel Onions (other than spring) Ugli

Figs (fresh) Oranges
PART II

VEGETABLES WHICH MAY BE SOLD BY THE BUNCH
Asparagus Mustard and cress
Beetroots Onions (including
spring)
Carrots Parsley

Chives Radishes
Endives Salad
cress
Garlic Turnips

Mint Watercress
SCHEDULE 2
Articles 4 and 
5

Tables of permitted weights for containers

Gross weight 
Permitted weight of container
Not exceeding 500 g 
5 g
Exceeding 500 g a weight at the rate of 10 g per kg of the gross
weight.

Gross weight 
Permitted weight of container
Not exceeding 250 g 
a weight at the rate of 120 g per kg of the gross weight.
Exceeding 250 g but not exceeding 1 kg a weight at the rate of 100 g per kg of the gross
weight.
Exceeding 1 kg but
not exceeding 3 kg a weight at the rate
of 90 g per kg of the gross weight.
Exceeding 3 kg a weight at
the rate of 60 g per kg of the gross weight.
