Point of Sale System

Point of sale (POS) systems are a central mechanism of transactions that take place in a trading environment. The system is typically used to calculate the price of an item based on its measurement, then display it to the customer and finally generate a receipt, label or other printout.

Australian businesses depend on POS systems to conduct their day-to-day operations of trade and customers depend on them to provide information in a clear and accurate manner. NMI’s requirements for POS systems – including the assessment performed to issue a certificate of approval and verification of each system by its appointed licensees – ensures that this happens.

So, with this in mind, NMI has gathered the POS resources that it has published and consolidated it in to this POS portal of ‘must know’ information to assist businesses, servicing licensees and POS suppliers, in that POS systems are compliant.

This page also outlines what you should know following the introduction of the new 1 August 2012 pattern approval scheme of POS systems that led to the new general certificate of approval S1/0B (PDF 119KB), following a review of S1/0A and a period of consultation (read consultation paper (PDF 96KB)).

In August 2012, NMI introduced a new requirement for POS systems – all POS systems installed or modified after August 2012 must be compliant with NMI M 7 Pattern Approval Specifications for POS Systems (PDF 361KB), they require a certificate of approval that has been issued by NMI and must be marked with an approval number prior to verification.

These requirements are applicable to POS systems which connect to a measuring instrument (e.g. supermarket scales, weighbridges) and perform functions such as stored tare or price computation.