30% of Domestic Suspicious Illegal Meters Fail Inspection

62 Failures out of 214 Spot Inspections
Lee Cheol-gyu: "Expand Spot Inspection Proportion... Strict Punishment for Fraudulent Acts"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunji Kwon] It has been revealed that nearly 30% of domestic suspected illegal measuring instruments failed random inspections. Since measuring instruments reflect industrial advancement and fair trade order, there are calls for active management and supervision.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to Lee Cheol-gyu, a member of the People Power Party (Gangwon Donghae, Taebaek, Samcheok, Jeongseon), the total number of random inspections on suspected illegal measuring instruments over the past five years (2017 to June 2022) was 214 cases, of which 62 cases (28.9%) were found to be non-compliant.

By region, Gyeonggi-do had the highest number with 19 cases, followed by Incheon with 9 cases, Gyeongnam with 6 cases, and Seoul, Chungbuk, and Chungnam each with 5 cases.

By type of measuring instrument, non-automatic scales accounted for the most with 36 cases, followed by LPG meters (8 cases), urea solution meters (6 cases), and gas meters (5 cases).

Additionally, the failure rate for random inspections (28.9%) was found to be higher than the recent failure rate for regular inspections. Under the current "Measurement Act," measuring instruments that have received type approval undergo regular inspections every two years. In the 2018 regular inspection, the failure rate was 2.6% (7,547 out of a total of 283,189 cases). Given that the failure rate for random inspections is more than ten times higher, there are calls for continuous management and supervision of measuring instruments.

Assemblyman Lee Cheol-gyu emphasized, "If trust in measuring instruments collapses, everyday fairness and trust will disappear," adding, "To prevent this, the government should gradually increase the proportion of random inspections in cooperation with local governments, and efforts to improve the system should follow, including strong punishment for illegal measuring instruments distributed through internet direct transactions or intentional fraudulent acts involving measuring instruments."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.