The task of the BIPM is to ensure world-wide uniformity of measurements and their traceability to the International System of Units (SI).

It does this with the authority of the Convention of the Metre, a diplomatic treaty between fifty-one nations, and it operates through a series of Consultative Committees, whose members are the national metrology laboratories of the Member States of the Convention, and through its own laboratory work.

The BIPM carries out measurement-related research. It takes part in, and organizes, international comparisons of national measurement standards, and it carries out calibrations for Member States.