Third Party accreditation or self declaration: the multiple choice of BNM

摘要

With the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM-MRA) the National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) have done an important step forward towards a harmonised global metrology system. The MRA requires the NMI to participate in key comparisons to establish the degree of equivalence of their national standards. It provides them with the possibility to declare their calibration and measurement capabilities (CMC) and to have these listed in the key comparison data base of the BIPM. In order to establish the necessary mutual confidence in the CMC data (clause 7.3 of the MRA) the NMIs are required to operate a suitable quality management system (QS) for its services. The QS can be either third party accredited or can be self declared. In both cases the QS needs to be reviewed by the local RMO for compliance with the requirements of the MRA. As a distributed system including fundamental research organisms and companies implementing secondary standards and managing calibration services, BNM had chosen both solutions or mixed according to the activity of the laboratory.