The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has notified the Legal Metrology (Government Approved Test Centre) Amendment Rules, 2025. These amendments overhaul the regulatory framework for Government Approved Test Centres (GATCs), improving governance, transparency, and uniformity in verification of weights and measures under the Legal Metrology framework.

Rule 3(1) now allows verification of weights and measures either by a Government Approved Test Centre or by legal metrology officers. Rule 5 has been revised to require applications for recognition to be submitted to the Joint Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, and mandates pre-approval inspections by authorised officers. Regional Reference Standard Laboratories and National Test House laboratories under the Department of Consumer Affairs are now deemed Government Approved Test Centres.

Rule 7 introduces a new Fifth Schedule specifying detailed fees for verification or re-verification of instruments. Rule 10 expands the permissible place of verification to include any part of the State in which the centre operates. Rule 18 increases the recognition fee to ₹2,00,000 per weight or measure, payable for both approval and renewal. The First Schedule has been replaced with a comprehensive list of 18 categories of instruments—such as water meters, weighing instruments, load cells, and energy meters—mandated for verification by Government Approved Test Centres.