Opportunities and future trends in legal metrology control of measuring instruments

摘要

Currently, legal metrology control generally includes type evaluation and approval, and initial and subsequent verification. In the future, one can envision legal metrology control to also include: 1. quality management systems for the production of instruments and the manufacturer's declaration of conformance of the individual instruments to the requirements of initial verification, 2. subsequent verification of measuring instruments carried out in a manner to provide 'market surveillance', and 3. exchange of field test information among nations that have established mutual acceptance arrangements with regard to 'type evaluation'. This future will require oversight by 'national responsible officials' - legal metrology services - to ensure the competence of instrument manufacturers as well as that of participants and partners in the mutual acceptance arrangements. For maximum effectiveness, these processes should be implemented on a global basis. Thus, the OIML is expected to lead and play an important, essential role.