Recommendation 1 of the 93rd CIPM (2004)

On the relationship between national metrology institutes (NMIs) and nationally recognised accreditation bodies (NABs)

The International Committee for Weights and Measures,

considering that the 22nd General Conference on Weights and Measures, in its Resolution 11, welcomed the recent CIPM-ILAC Memorandum of Understanding between the International Committee for Weights and Measures and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), and

called upon all accreditation organizations to recognize that NMIs and accredited calibration laboratories together provide an indispensable route to traceability to the SI and hence to reliability in measurements and worldwide comparability of measurement results for the whole economy and society and that they should work closely together, and

recommended

• that Member Governments of the Metre Convention ensure that an appropriate relationship exists between NMIs and NABs, and
• that this relationship fosters collaboration on matters concerning traceability of measurement results and ensures effective and complementary actions under the CIPM MRA and the ILAC arrangement,

noting

• that NMIs provide the essential technical information to ensure the existence of effective national measurement systems as the route to traceability to the SI,
• that recent developments, including those in documentary standards, are leading to an undue separation of some NMIs and some NABs, 228 93rd Meeting of the CIPM

recommends that

• NMIs and NABs work closely together to ensure that this essential technical exchange takes place, and
• appropriate safeguards are put in place to ensure impartiality, and further notes that nothing in this recommendation or in Resolution 11 of the 22nd General Conference on Weights and Measures implies a particular model for a relationship between an NMI and an NAB.

DOI : 10.59161/CIPM2004REC1E