'Caveat exemptor': IMEKO and the Institute

摘要

A colonial, of the kind who inclines towards being sweepingly dismissive, I am always highly sceptical about membership bodies whose membership comprises other membership bodies. The former invariably seem to feed off the activities and, significantly, the money of the latter and offer little thanks in return. They're often little more than quangos, just dressed up differently. So it was in this frame of mind that I joined the UK delegation, a wholly Institute of Measurement and Control group, to the recent 19th World Congress and 52nd General Council of the International Measurement Confederation (IMEKO), meeting this year in Lisbon. The Institute's annual contributions to IMEKO are currently pound1750 but, when the costs of sending representatives to various meetings are added, the figure rises to upwards of pound5k - and, in material terms, there is no readily perceptible return for the Institute. For those of us who like to scratch under the carpet and dig out the dirt, therefore, the Institute's continuing involvement with IMEKO is meat and drink. After all, on the face of it, is IMEKO any different from those membership bodies who so unashamedly sponge off other membership bodies?