Trade Measurement
Latest news: The National Measurement Institute (NMI) will begin administering the national trade measurement system, a part of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agenda, on 1 July 2010. Further updates and information is available from our COAG webpage.
Trade measurement
Accurate weighing and measuring is vital to consumers and business. For consumers it’s a matter of being sure you are getting what you pay for, while for business inaccurate measurement can mean loss of product, profits and consumer confidence. The Trade Measurement Branch helps protect consumers and business through:
- accuracy of all measuring instruments in trade
- standards used by repairers and trade measurement inspectors in the field
- licensing and audits by trade measurement inspectors
- inspections of trading premises
- packaging regulations.
If you conduct transactions involving measurement or packaging by weight, you need to comply with the Trade Measurement Act. Instruments used for trade must be accurate at all times.
Please choose from the following topics:
- Business
- Consumers
- Students
- History of weights and measures
- Metric systems of measurement
- Introduction of the metric system to Australia
- Metric units of measurement
- Information sheets about trade measurement in certain industries
- Other information

