The Legal Metrology Division of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India has unveiled new draft rules for Evidential Breath Analysers under the Legal Metrology (General) Rules, 2011. This initiative aims to ensure the accuracy and reliability of breath analyzers used by law enforcement and workplaces, thereby enhancing public safety and trust.

The Verified and standardized Evidential Breath Analysers will accurately measure blood alcohol concentration from breath samples, ensuring that intoxicated individuals are identified swiftly and effectively. This helps prevent alcohol-related incidents on the road, contributing to safer travel for everyone.

The new rules require Evidential Breath Analysers to follow standardized testing procedures, ensuring consistent and reliable results across different devices. This standardization fosters public confidence in the fairness and accuracy of enforcement actions.

Evidential Breath Analysers needs to be verified and stamped according to the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, to ensure their accuracy. This verification protects individuals from wrongful penalties due to faulty equipment and helps maintain the integrity of legal and workplace policies.

Evidential Breath Analysers provide a non-invasive way to measure blood alcohol content, offering quick and painless sample collection. The rapid analysis capabilities allow law enforcement officers to make swift, informed decisions, enhancing the effectiveness of roadside checks.

The availability of stamped and verified Evidential Breath Analysers to the public can raise awareness about the effects of alcohol on impairment and the legal limits for safe operation of vehicles and machinery. This encourages responsible behavior and informed decision-making.

The draft rules defines “Evidential Breath Analysers” as Instrument that measures and displays the breath alcohol mass concentration of exhaled human breath within specified error limits and are applicable to those types of Evidential Breath Analysers that use mouthpieces for sampling the breath.  The rules provides for various types of test to ensure, the correctness of the instrument. The yearly verification will ensure the accuracy of this instrument during use.

The draft rules outline several technical requirements for Evidential Breath Analysers, including:

• Displaying only the final measurement result.
• Including a printer to record results and ensuring the device does not operate         without paper.
• Providing additional printed information along with the blood alcohol concentration result.
• Reporting results in different formats, such as blood alcohol concentration in blood.

The new draft rules for Evidential Breath Analysers represent a significant step towards improving road safety and enforcement reliability. By ensuring that Evidential Breath Analysers are accurate, standardized, and easy to use, these rules will benefit the public through better enforcement, increased safety, and enhanced trust in legal and workplace alcohol testing. The Department of Consumer Affairs remains committed to safeguarding public welfare through rigorous standards and reliable measurement instruments.

The draft rules are placed on the website for public comments upto 26.07.2024 at the link: https://consumeraffairs.nic.in/sites/default/files/file-uploads/latestnews/Draft_Rule_Breath_Analyser.pdf

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Nihi Sharma