Legal metrology includes all regulatory provisions issued by authorities at national and European level to ensure the quality of the measuring instruments used: The objective of the OIML-CS is to facilitate, accelerate and harmonize the work of national and regional bodies responsible for type assessment and approval of measuring instruments subject to legal metrological control. PTB is one of the biggest names in metrology in the world. As the national institute of metrology, the PTB is Germany`s highest authority on correct and reliable measurements. Research and development work accounts for about two-thirds of the PTB`s activities. Legal metrology is the application of legal requirements to measurements and measuring instruments. Very often, small errors in both directions are averaged over a large number of measurements. However, biased errors can lead to significant financial disadvantages and have serious economic consequences for the end user. Legal metrology is the science of measurement. EU legislation on legal metrology is one of the pillars of the internal market for goods. EU requirements aim to promote innovation, public safety, environmental protection and fair trade. The “European Cooperation in Legal Metrology” (WELMEC) has existed since 1990 and is therefore the oldest regional organisation in the world in which national legal metrology authorities cooperate.
All EU and EFTA countries as well as EU candidate countries are now members of WELMEC. It coordinates national and regional activities on all technical issues of legal metrology. WELMEC`s objective is to harmonize legal metrology in Europe and to strengthen mutual trust in this field. This is done through the cooperation of all interested institutions and the effective exchange of information. PTB employees are represented in almost all WELMEC working groups. More information is available in the “Work of the PTB Committee” database. In the field of legal metrology, LNE plays a role at European level in the conformity assessment of measuring instruments and ANSPIs (non-automatic instruments), which fall under the competence of Directives 2014/32/EU (MID) and 2014/31/EU. At the French level, the LNE issues certificates of examination of types of equipment, design drawings and installation tests and approves the quality management systems of manufacturers, repairers or installers of this equipment. The laboratory also issues OIML certificates of conformity. The digitalisation of European society and economy has considerable benefits. It can make processes more efficient, improve the customer experience, and create new business opportunities. However, to ensure that the weighing industry enables digitalisation and can contribute to the European data-driven economy, it is essential that the appropriate regulatory framework is created and implemented.
EU legislation, OIML recommendations and WELMEC guides should be flexible enough to allow innovation in the implementation of legislation while maintaining a high level of consumer protection. In order to fully exploit the benefits of digitalisation in the European weighing industry, CECIP believes that at least two steps need to be taken: reliable measurements are essential for the economy and society. To master technological and social challenges, we depend on a highly developed metrological infrastructure. These high demands on metrological infrastructure make it essential for the cooperation of individual countries and their national metrology institutes. In Europe, cooperation in metrology is coordinated by the European Association of National Metrology Institutes, EURAMET for short. The area of free movement of goods is known as the internal market and is created for products regulated by harmonised EU legal acts, mainly directives and regulations. In the field of metrology, units of measurement and regulated products – measuring instruments and prepackages – fall within the scope of EU legislation. Measuring instruments are governed by the MID (Measuring Instruments Directive – 10 categories) and NAWID (Non-automatic Weighing Instruments Directive) directives. 1.
Focus on the legal measurement requirements for the basic balance The European System of Units dates back to the International System of Units (SI). The SI serves as a global standard, and EU law makes SI units the legal units used to indicate quantities in the EU. Metrology institutes, researchers and companies are successfully networked with EU support to pool their resources and provide the metrology needed for a modern society. Learn more about the current metrology research programs EMPIR and EMRP as well as the previous iMERA-Plus program. For this reason, legislation on measurements and measuring instruments is needed, and virtually all countries offer this protection by including metrology in their legislation – hence the term “legal metrology”. The full position paper on digitalisation in law is available here. In addition, the position will be presented at the CECIP webinar on digitization in legal metrology on June 25. With nearly 2000 employees, PTB is the largest metrology institute in Europe. It responds to the major metrological challenges of our networked high-tech world in close collaboration with its European sister institutes, other research institutions, standards bodies and legal metrology committees. Health, energy, environment, safety and mobility are important in this regard. In all these areas, it is true to say that together we are strong! This applies to joint European metrology research, coordinated by EURAMET e. V.
e. V. and widely supported by the European Commission, as well as for the international harmonization of metrology. The PTB is involved in many committees that deal with this issue in order to establish common standards within Europe so that cooperation can be shaped in a spirit of trust. The general approach of the European Commission`s new regulatory framework is to set essential requirements in legislation, followed by harmonised standards allowing presumption of conformity. Although the legal system leaves manufacturers free to deviate from the requirements recommended in harmonised standards and guidelines, in practice manufacturers have little room for manoeuvre. CECIP calls on market surveillance authorities and notified bodies to follow the principles of the legislation and to show sufficient flexibility. The amended Directive mandates the European Commission, the Parliament and the Council by 31. In December 2019, present a report on the proper functioning of the internal market and the international acceptance of SI units, including, if appropriate, proposals. Demonstrated progress will be important to achieve the long-term acceptance of additional units in the EU. Amending the U.S.
Fair Package and Labeling Act (FPLA) to allow for a metric labeling option will help U.S. companies benefit from increased exports and increase the adoption of SI units in the international marketplace. More information is available: the European Green Deal aims for climate neutrality by 2050. The implementation of semiconductors based on wideband gap compounds such as gallium nitride, silicon carbide and gallium oxide in power electronics has the potential to make lighting 75% more efficient. OIML issuing authorities, users, employees, certificates 28 European countries (27 after Brexit) have created a customs union and a common space for 4 freedoms through a series of treaties: the free movement of goods, persons, capital and services – the European Union. With the increasing role of digitalization in society, scales can be very different from historical and conventional machines, which consist of a complete physical unit that can be easily isolated and sealed. With an instrument built on such a distributed architecture, it can be difficult to define the limits of an instrument. There is a risk that requirements based on one use case will be completely unsuitable for other applications. In addition, regulations and standards evolve very slowly in relation to rapid technological developments.