8 CCR 1202-14 Part 9 - Statements of Basis, Specific Statutory Authority and Purpose
9.1.
Adopted June 11, 2014 - Effective
July 30, 2014
STATUTORY AUTHORITY:
The Commissioner of Agriculture, is authorized to adopt these permanent rules pursuant to Section 35-14-107(1)(o), C.R.S.
PURPOSE:
The specific purposes of these Rules are as follows:
1. Create a new Part 1 that defines the scope
of these Rules. These Rules apply to the retail sale of certain
commodities.
2. Create a new Part 2
that clarifies unit price advertising requirements for bulk food
commodities.
3. Create a new Part 3
that establishes the method of sale for meat, poultry, fish and
seafood.
4. Create a new Part 4
that defines and establishes a method of sale for ready-to-eat food.
5. Create a new Part 5 that defines and
establishes a method of sale for fireplace and stove wood.
6. Create a new Part 6 that defines and
establishes a method of sale for container plants.
FACTUAL AND POLICY ISSUES:
1. These method of sale Rules for specific
commodities are being promulgated in an effort to provide the consumer a means
of making an informed purchasing decision by enabling them to make a value
comparison between commodities. The language in Parts 2-5 of these Rules is
taken from the National Model Law Method of Sale for Commodities in NIST
Handbook 130, 2014 ed. The language in these Rules is thus in alignment with
the method of sale model law which is followed by all other weights and
measures jurisdictions nationally.
2. Part 2 of these Rules clarifies that unit
price advertising for bulk food commodities must be represented in the largest
whole unit. While much of the industry already complies with this, there are
market categories that sell/advertise food products in fractional quantities,
thereby making it difficult for the consumer to facilitate a value comparison.
These Rules, therefore, would eliminate such confusion by requiring that unit
price advertising is done using whole units and not fractions
thereof.
3. During 2008-09 the
Department of Regulatory Agencies performed a Sunset Review of the Colorado
Measurement Standards Act. During this process Section
35-14-113 C.R.S., which addressed
the method of sale for meat, poultry and seafood, was repealed. Part 3
clarifies that meat, poultry and seafood must be sold by weight or in the case
of shellfish sold in the shell, by weight, measure or count.
4. Ready-to-eat foods are often sold without
a quantity declaration, making it hard for a consumer to know how much they are
getting, or to facilitate a value comparison. Part 4 clarifies that
ready-to-eat foods must declare a weight, measure or count when sold.
5. To date, there is no method of sale rule
for firewood in Colorado. Current advertising terms and quantity declarations
used by industry are often misleading, and fail to provide enough information
to the consumer. This makes it difficult for the consumer to make an informed
decision or value comparison when making a purchasing decision. Part 5 was
written to protect the consumer from deceptive advertising and sales
practices.
6. Representatives in
the nursery/greenhouse industry expressed concern to the Department that
quantity statements made by some sellers of container plants were deceptive and
misleading. They asked the Department for increased enforcement of their method
of sale. Part 6 was developed with the help of industry stakeholders to define
what a container plant is and establish a consistent method of sale to
eliminate deceptive and confusing methods of sale for container
plants.
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.