International Organization of Legal Metrology

The definition of "legal metrology" varies amongst jurisdictions, reflecting the extent to which metrology is bound into the jurisdiction's own legal and regulatory code. The OIML, in their publication International Vocabulary of Terms in Legal Metrology defined "legal metrology" as[1]

... concerns regulatory requirements of measurements and measuring instruments for the protection of health, public safety, the environment, enabling taxation, protection of consumers and fair trade.

In the glossary of their book Metrology - in short Howarth and Redgrave state that "legal metrology"[2]

Ensures accuracy and reliability of measurement where measured values can affect health, safety, or the transparency of financial transactions e.g. weights and measures.

These two statements are held together by the words "regulatory", "accuracy" and "reliability". The word "regulatory" encompasses the "legal" aspects of the term – the role played by governments, national metrology institutes and standards organizations in creating a framework to ensure confidence in the accuracy and reliability of a measurement. This framework requires that the specified test and conformance operations are carried out, and that the certificates pertaining to these operations are filed in a manner that enables third parties to assess them should the need arise.

The OIML has identified four main activities that fulfil the purposes of legal metrology:[3]

• Setting up of legal requirements.
• Control/conformity assessment of regulated products and regulated activities.
• Supervision of regulated products and of regulated activities
• Providing the necessary infrastructure for correct measurements.

The International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML), an intergovernmental organization, was established under a diplomatic treaty signed in Paris on 12 October 1955 to promote the global harmonization of legal metrology procedures that underpin and facilitate international trade.[4] Under French law, its principal body, the International Conference is accorded diplomatic status.[5]

The Convention that set up the OIML listed eight objectives behind its establishment. At the 2011 meeting in Prague of the International Committee of Legal Metrology (CIML), the OIML updated its mission to read:[6]

The mission of the OIML is to enable economies to put in place effective legal metrology infrastructures that are mutually compatible and internationally recognized, for all areas for which governments take responsibility, such as those which facilitate trade, establish mutual confidence and harmonize the level of consumer protection worldwide.

At the same meeting, its objectives were then stated as follows:[6]

1. "To develop, in cooperation with our stakeholders, standards and related documents for use by legal metrology authorities and industry that when implemented will achieve the mission of the OIML".
2. "To provide mutual recognition systems which reduce trade barriers and costs in a global market".
3. "To represent the interests of the legal metrology community within international organizations and forums concerned with metrology, standardization, testing, certification and accreditation".
4. "To promote and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and competencies within the legal metrology community worldwide".
5. "In co-operation with other metrology bodies, to raise awareness of the contribution that a sound legal metrology infrastructure can make to a modern economy".
6. "To identify areas for the OIML to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its work".

The OIML, which has an annual operating budget of about two million euros that comes from member subscriptions[7][Note 1] is organized around a three-layer model:[4][8][9]

The overall direction of the OIML is vested in the International Conference (French: Conférence internationale de Métrologie légale) which meets every four years. The Conference is attended by delegations from Member States and [non-voting] Corresponding Members of the Organization.

The management of the OIML is vested in the International Committee (French: Comité international de Métrologie légale - CIML). The Committee consists of one member from each Member State. These members normally have active official functions in legal metrology in their country. The Committee elects a non-salaried President for a six-year term of office from amongst its members. The Committee meets annually under the chairmanship of its President.

Secretarial services, day-to-day running and financial management of the OIML are provided by the BIML (French: Bureau International de Métrologie légale). The BIML is the OIML headquarters, located in the 9th Arrondissement of Paris[10] and is headed by a salaried director who is, ex-officio, secretary to both the International Conference and the International Committee.

The OIML has two categories of membership; "Member State" and "Corresponding Member". The Member State category is for countries or economies that are prepared to finance and actively participate in the work of the OIML and which have acceded to the OIML Convention.

The Corresponding Member category is for countries or economies that want to be informed of OIML activities, but cannot, or prefer not to, be a Member State.[13] As of June 2020, a total of 61 states are Member States and 62 are Corresponding Members.[14]

Member States

Corresponding Members

The work of the OIML overlaps with the work of a number of other international organisations. In order to minimise the impact of this overlap and also to ensure that the work of the OIML and other organisations can intermesh with each other, the OIML and other organisations have exchanged memoranda of understanding (MoU) with each other. As of July 2019 the MoU in existence were:[17]

• On 3 December 2008 the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the OIML signed a three-way MoU whereby each would apply their own expertise in the best way possible to ensure the better implementation of capacity building activities in standards and conformity, as well as compliance with sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures.
• An MoU was signed with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) on 10 June 1966, which was revised on 9 December 2008 whereby both organisations would cooperate via joint technical committees where applicable. A number of OIML Recommendations that were at variance with certain ISO standards were withdrawn. A process to fast-track OIML Recommendations into ISO standards was also agreed. Joint reports issued by both organisations could be downloaded from the OIML website as with any other OIML document.[Note 3]
• An MoU was signed with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on 13 October 2011 during the 46th CIML Meeting in Prague. Under the MoU, the two organisations agreed to keep each other informed of their activities, and where appropriate, to set up joint technical committees and issue joint recommendations. On 10 October 2018 at the 53rd CIML Meeting, held in Hamburg, Germany, a renewed MoU was signed by Mr. Frans Vreeswijk (General Secretary and CEO of the IEC) and Dr. Roman Schwartz (CIML President).
• An MoU was signed with the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) on 12 November 2006 whereby ILAC and OIML would cooperate in the use of the OIML Mutual Acceptance Arrangement (MAA) tool and both organisations would cooperate in the field of harmonisation of accreditation by ILAC full members and peer assessments organized by the BIML. On 28 October 2007, during the ILAC/IAF General Assembly in Sydney, the MoU was extended to include the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) whereby ILAC and the OIML would cooperate in the use of the OIML Mutual Acceptance Arrangement (MAA) tool and both organisations would cooperate in the field of harmonisation of accreditation by ILAC full members and peer assessments organized by the document Guide for the application of ISO/IEC Guide 65 to legal metrology was to be revised to bring it into line with other ISO standards, notably ISO 17021 and ISO 9001. A new MoU was signed on 28 October 2010 during the ILAC/IAF Joint General Assembly in Shanghai. On 16 October 2014 at the IAF-ILAC Joint General Assembly, held in Vancouver, Canada, a renewed MoU was signed by Mr. Peter Unger (ILAC Chair), Mr. Randy Dougherty (IAF Chair) and Mr. Peter Mason (CIML President). Lastly, on 10 October 2018 at the 53rd CIML Meeting, held in Hamburg, Germany, a renewed MoU was signed by Ms. Merih Malmqvist Nilsson (ILAC Chair), Mr. Xiao Jianhua (IAF Chair) and Dr. Roman Schwartz (CIML President). The updates in the 2018 renewed MoU are mainly editorial in nature, most notably to address the OIML Certification System (OIML-CS) and to consolidate some parts of the existing text.

• WELMEC

• Official site