Department of Consumer Affairs Unveils New Draft Rules for Evidential Breath Analyzer

New Delhi, June 28, 2024 – The Legal Metrology Division of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, has introduced new draft rules for Evidential Breath Analyzers under the Legal Metrology (General) Rules, 2011. This initiative aims to enhance the accuracy and reliability of breath analyzers used by law enforcement and workplaces, ultimately promoting public safety and trust.

The verified and standardized Evidential Breath Analysers will accurately measure blood alcohol concentration (BAC) from breath samples, ensuring that intoxicated individuals are identified quickly and effectively. This will help prevent alcohol-related incidents on the roads, contributing to safer travel for everyone.

The new rules mandate that Evidential Breath Analysers 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 must 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 BAC, 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 the safe operation of vehicles and machinery. This encourages responsible behavior and informed decision-making.

The draft rules define “Evidential Breath Analysers” as instruments that measure and display the breath alcohol mass concentration of exhaled human breath within specified error limits. They are applicable to those types of Evidential Breath Analysers that use mouthpieces for sampling the breath. The rules provide for various types of tests to ensure the accuracy of the instrument, with yearly verification to maintain this accuracy.

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 BAC result.
• Reporting results in different formats, such as BAC 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.