Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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689. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the body that is responsible for the regulation of dispensing oil products on forecourts to ensure standards and quantities dispensed are as they should be; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34427/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The body responsible for the regulation of dispensing all products on forecourts is the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI). Legal Metrology is responsible for the implementation of the Metrology Acts 1980-1996 and related Regulations. It does this through certifying and inspecting measurement instruments and the quantities of pre-packaged products. A wide range of measuring instruments, including liquid fuel dispensers on service station forecourts are subject to legal metrological control when used for trade purposes.

The Metrology Act 1996 and Legal Metrology (General) Regulations 2008, provide that only nationally approved instruments or instruments that have undergone European conformity assessment and bear the CE mark can be used for trade. The primary responsibility for design approval and conformity assessment rests with the manufacturer. The trader is obliged to ensure that only such a measuring instrument is used for trade and that it is correct and verified at all times. Re-verification must be carried out after the instrument has been repaired, re-calibrated or failed inspection. The process of re-verification involves establishing that the instrument complies with regulations, in particular, testing for accuracy against applicable measurement tolerances and the application of tamper evident seals.

In order to ensure sufficient resources are available for traders to keep their instruments in compliance, Legal Metrology has authorised private operators, subject to specific conditions, under Section 12 of the 1996 Act, to undertake verifications at the request of the instrument owner. To monitor compliance, NSAI Legal Metrology Inspectors, operating out of seven offices countrywide, carry out inspections of liquid fuel dispensers on the basis of risk-based enforcement.

Legal Metrology Inspectors have inspected 7420 liquid fuel dispensers to date in 2016. Compliance levels are satisfactory.

Approximately 60% of liquid Fuel dispensers were metrologically tested to determine if they were dispensing within legal tolerances while approximately 40% were visually inspected to ensure that they were verified and sealed.

NSAI Legal Metrology continues to review its enforcement strategy on the basis of inspection information allocating resources as necessary to the areas of highest risk.