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The World Metrology Day project is realised jointly by the BIPM and the OIML and is celebrated on 20 May each year.
The theme for 2023 ‘Measurements supporting the global food system’ was chosen because of the increasing challenges of climate change, and global distribution of food in a world whose population reached 8 billion at the end of 2022.
More widely metrology, the science of measurement, plays a central role in scientific discovery and innovation, industrial manufacturing and international trade, in improving the quality of life and in protecting the global environment.
The 2023 World Metrology Day website is now live and can be accessed here. The website includes the Press Release, Directors’ Message and a promotional poster which is available in English and French.
Please feel free to access these materials and use them to support and promote the importance of metrology and World Metrology Day.
ISO/CASCO is holding its 36th Plenary meeting & Workshop from 25-29 April 2022. This year’s event is going to be hosted entirely online and is meant to be an interactive and debate led event. It will alternate formal sessions with open discussions, to cover CASCO technical and policy work, as well as initiatives to strengthen stakeholder engagement. The plenary week will close off with a dialogue session with the ISO and CASCO Leaders, followed by a Workshop, Conformity assessment embracing the present and preparing for the future.
This year’s theme for the World Accreditation Day is about accreditation supporting Sustainability in Economic Growth and the Environment. Sustainability is an issue of prime interest to ISO/CASCO, with its Strategic Alliance and Regulatory Group (STAR) that has been focusing on circular economy. STAR has been working on a deliverable, that will provide insight and concrete examples on how the CASCO Toolbox can support circular economy. When applied to products, processes, services, systems, or claims in the context of circular economy, conformity assessment, including accreditation, can add substance and credibility to statements that specified requirements are fulfilled, thereby, providing confidence in aspects such as recyclability, reusability, reparability, upgradability.
Check out other existing STAR deliverables:
How conformity assessment can help in managing risk for the insurance industry
Standards and conformity assessment delivering supply chain confidence
On the technical side, CASCO has continued to work remotely, with four working groups active in the revision or development of conformity assessment standards. The WG56 has completed the revision of ISO/IEC Guide 60, Conformity assessment – Code of good practice that will be published as ISO/IEC 17060 by the end of April 2022. ISO/IEC 17043, defining general requirements for the competence of proficiency testing providers, has reached the Draft International Standards (DIS) stage and will open for ballot at the end of April.
Contents:
1) OIML Digitalisation Task Group (DTG)
2) Joint Statement of Intent (JSI)
3) World Metrology Day (WMD) 2022: “Metrology in the Digital Era”
15th March 2022
International Bureau of Legal Metrology (BIML)
1) OIML Digitalisation Task Group (DTG)
The digital transformation for all organisations is advancing at a rapid pace on a worldwide scale. The OIML, with 125 members in the field of legal metrology is part of this transformation, which will affect all processes and services relating to metrology, standardisation, accreditation and conformity assessment.
An OIML “Digitalisation Task Group” (DTG) has recently been established to examine relevant matters, technological advancements and opportunities related to digital transformation that will benefit the OIML, in cooperation with Quality Infrastructure (QI) partners, based on the Joint Statement of Intent on the digital transformation in the international scientific and quality infrastructure (JSI).
2) Joint Statement of Intent (JSI)
The organisations underpinning international QI have been working together for many decades to ensure the worldwide comparability, interoperability and reliable application of measurement and measurement data for worldwide trade, industry, health, science, and society.
In the future, QI organisations should seek to find a common language for measurement data in digital formats that is not only usable for humans, but that also allows integration into new autonomous digital systems.
By participating in the JSI, the OIML signals that it is interested in shaping the digital future of international QI in its various legal metrology activities, ranging from technical work, the OIML Certification System (OIML-CS) to activities in support of Countries and Economies with Emerging Metrology Systems (CEEMS), based on the international system of units: “The Digital SI Framework”.
3) World Metrology Day (WMD) 2022: “Metrology in the Digital Era”
The theme this year is “Metrology in the Digital Era”. This theme was chosen because digital technology is revolutionising our community, and is one of the most exciting trends in society today.
The 2022 poster was designed in association with the Euro-Asian Cooperation of National Metrological Institutions (COOMET) and the National Scientific Centre “Institute of Metrology”, Ukraine.
On the Resource Website, you may download the Press Release, the Directors’ Message and the poster; the poster is available in PDF format in English and in French, and in Photoshop format in English. The COOMET poster is also published on the Posters page.
Last year’s World Metrology Day was a huge success; we hope to build on that success in 2022.
Please help us to spread the word about World Metrology Day and let the World Metrology Day Team know by email about the events you are organising in your country so that we can include them on the website. For inspiration, you can see the events organised by other NMIs in previous years on the website.
A new version of the BIPM key comparison database, the KCDB 2.0, was launched in October 2019. This followed 20 years continuous and efficient operation of the original KCDB. The new version provides a web-based user platform, which allows CMC data to be drafted and reviewed while being directly linked to the database.
The introduction of the KCDB 2.0 has led to an improvement in the quality management of data and a demonstrable reduction in the delay between submission to publication of internationally recognized calibration and measurement capabilities (CMCs). On average, the delay has been reduced by a factor of 2. The KCDB 2.0 includes enhanced functionality to allow the generation of numerical data on the CMCs and comparisons.
The growing issue of digitalization and machine readability is a hot topic with far-reaching consequences, which is being debated within many areas, including metrology. Industry and other stakeholders are increasingly requesting support for digital calibration certificates. In response to this requirement, the open access search facility for CMCs has received a significant enhancement with the introduction of an API (Application Programming Interface) that can be used to program CMC queries. The API KCDB can simultaneously query the same database that is available via the KCDB web to generate machine-readable CMC data. The API KCDB may be integrated into web applications, for example to adapt the service to languages other than English.
The API KCDB software represents the latest in the BIPM’s ongoing work to ensure that the KCDB remains at the forefront of the future digitalization needs of the metrology community. It is a possible precursor to the introduction of digital CMCs and ultimately for digital calibration certificates. The API is available via the KCDB website and an introduction video has also been made available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDHh_MC2p6s
2021 has been a fruitful year for ISO’s Committee on conformity assessment (CASCO) as great progress was made on the development of its five-year strategic directions for the period 2022-2026. In parallel, CASCO is reviewing the structure of the committee to ensure that it will be in a position to fulfil its forthcoming objectives.
The IAF-ILAC-ISO Joint Strategic Group (JSG) is a forum established pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between ISO, the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) to address matters of common interest to the three organizations, including matters of conformity assessment policy and practice as they relate to accreditation. The JSG is about to complete the revision of its terms of reference, which define all aspects of how it will carry out its mandate going forward.
In January 2021, the CASCO Strategic Alliance and Regulatory Group (STAR) agreed to focus its engagement efforts on sustainability issues, with a marked emphasis on the circular economy. STAR members felt the timing was right since sustainable solutions are needed to ensure full recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, and the circular economy is gaining traction in many countries. As a starting point, a task group has set to collect and examine existing literature covering concepts and trends of the circular economy, and its impact on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It also gathered examples of current conformity assessment schemes as well as concrete private or governmental initiatives supporting the circular economy in different countries. With this preliminary phase over, the STAR will continue to work on an online tool or brochure that will offer guidance, borne out by practical examples, of how to approach the circular economy from a conformity assessment perspective.
On the technical side, CASCO has continued to work remotely, with six working groups active in the revision or development of conformity assessment standards. As such, it has recently published a revised version of one of its most prominent standards, ISO/IEC 17030, that provides general requirements for third-party marks of conformity, including their issue and use. It is also in process of revising ISO/IEC 17043, which specifies requirements for the competence of proficiency testing providers. The second Committee Draft is currently being balloted by CASCO and IEC members. Lastly, the revision of ISO/IEC Guide 60, Conformity assessment – Code of good practice, has now reached Draft International Standard (DIS) stage. The DIS, which was approved by ISO and IEC members, will be published as ISO/IEC 17060, acquiring full status as an International Standard.
Meanwhile, CASCO continues to manage the request clarification process for all requests received by the CASCO Secretariat pertaining to CASCO-developed standards. These deliverables are all developed in conjunction with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). A total of 5 requests had been received by the end of September.
MoU between ILAC and WADA to be renewed
The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) officially formalized their partnership by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 15 November 2007 at the 3rd World Conference on Doping in Sport held in Madrid, Spain. After the initial signing of the MoU in 2007, the document underwent several revisions. The ILAC-WADA MoU has been reviewed and ratified every 3 years as follows:
In 2016, ILAC and WADA agreed to increase the duration of the MoU terms and conditions from three (3) to five (5) years. Consequently, the ILAC-WADA MoU is currently undergoing its regular review process by both organizations, and it is scheduled to be ratified by the ILAC Chair, Ms Etty Fellar, and WADA President, Mr. Witold Bańka, at the WADA Foundation Board meeting to be held on 25 November 2021 in Paris, France.
ILAC-WADA Liaison Group
As stipulated in the ILAC-WADA MoU, the ILAC-WADA Joint Working Group (also known as ILAC-WADA Liaison Group) is the main forum for coordinating the collaboration between WADA and the ILAC Full Member Accreditation Bodies (ABs) involved in the ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation of WADA laboratories worldwide.
The ILAC-WADA Liaison Group meets at least once a year. In the period from October 2020 to October 2021, the ILAC-WADA Liaison Group held two (2) virtual meetings:
The following topics were discussed during the April meeting:
The next meeting of the ILAC-WADA Liaison Group is scheduled for 21 October 2021.
