Afghan Officials Learn Weights and Measures Regulation in Virginia

As gas prices have risen in the United States, so have complaints about gasoline pumps. Employees with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) have been particularly busy responding to complaints, as well as inspecting weighing and measuring devices to ensure consumers that a gallon pumped is a gallon received. In the rare cases where consumers aren’t receiving full value, VDACS takes corrective action. But what do consumers do when the weights and measures infrastructure in their country has been dismantled by years of war?

“That’s the situation in Afghanistan right now,” says Todd Haymore, VDACS Commissioner. “I am so pleased that some of our employees were able to help train Afghan engineers who came to the United States to learn how to develop and maintain a system to regulate weighing and measuring devices.” The country recently established the Afghan National Standardization Authority (ANSA). Its goal is to develop the necessary infrastructure for weights and measures standards, metrology and related quality assurance programs in order to establish a strong foundation for industrial development and economic growth.

This summer an ANSA team is in the United States to learn how the U.S. establishes standards, provides certification and manages a regulatory system in the priority areas of food safety, pharmaceuticals, petroleum products, weights and measures, and construction material standards and regulations. A two-man team, Mohammad Reza Khademi and Mujuibullah Qasem, was in Virginia the week of July 21 to learn about legal metrology, which concerns the regulation of weighing and measuring instruments used in commercial transactions.

While in Hanover County, the Afghan officials were able to observe, ask questions and take notes about gas pump inspections, motor fuel quality analysis and other aspects of weights and measures regulation. VDACS inspectors demonstrated how to check a pump for accuracy to ensure that a gallon pumped is a gallon received, how to seal off a malfunctioning pump, how to collect motor fuel samples for lab analysis and more. They also explained how test devices used in Virginia are calibrated to national and international standards. The ANSA team reported that the things they learned will help them establish weights and measures services to provide consumer protection and promote fair competition in Afghanistan.

“The role we’re playing is small,” concluded Commissioner Haymore, “but significant. It will help Afghanistan in its rebuilding efforts, and I am proud that our VDACS employees had this opportunity to meet face-to-face with their counterparts from another country.”