General Conference Information

**Introduction**

This document contains the Board of Directors and Standing Committee
agendas for the **Interim Meeting of the National Conference on Weights
and Measures, Inc.,** (NCWM) scheduled for January 25-28, 2004, at the
Hyatt Regency Bethesda, One Bethesda Metro Center, Wisconsin Avenue at
Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, Maryland 20814. To reserve a room, call
the hotel directly at toll-free (800) 233-1234 or (301) 657-1234 and ask
for the National Conference on Weights and Measures' meeting rate of
\$150 single/double -- federal government per diem (plus 12 % occupancy
tax).

Agenda items to be addressed by the Standing Committees are assigned
Reference Key numbers as follows:

> **Committee Reference Key**
>
> Board of Directors 100 series
>
> Laws and Regulations 200 series
>
> Specifications and Tolerances 300 series
>
> Professional Development Committee 400 series
>
> National Type Evaluation Program Committee 500 series

The subject matter listed on each Standing Committee\'s agenda will be
open for discussion as noted. Each committee may also take up routine or
miscellaneous items brought to its attention after the preparation of
this document. At its discretion, each committee will determine to
accept items not listed in this document.

The agendas:

> 1\. Include items brought to the attention of the Standing Committees
> prior to the submission deadline of October 15, 2003, and approved for
> inclusion in their agenda by the Committees, and
>
> 2\. Are organized to serve as the basis for the Standing Committee
> Interim Reports (to be printed in the Program and Committee Reports of
> the National Conference on Weights and Measures 89^th^ Annual Meeting,
> NCWM Publication 16). The final reports of the committees will be
> published in the NIST Special Publication Report of the 89^th^ Annual
> Meeting of the NCWM following the Annual Meeting in 2004 scheduled for
> July 11-15 at the Hilton Pittsburgh & Towers, Pittsburgh,
> Pennsylvania.

The Committees have not determined whether the items presented will be
voting or informational in nature; these determinations will result from
their deliberations at the Interim Meeting.

**Special Meetings**

Several Annual Committees and other organizations are conducting
meetings concurrently with the Standing Committees of the Conference.

***Joint Meetings for All Committees***

A joint meeting for all committees will be held on Wednesday, January
28^th^. Each Standing Committee will highlight the major decisions made
during the week, and the Nominating Committee will present its report.

**Participation**

Sunday meetings are scheduled for Committee members to review their
agendas (see the particular committee agenda for details). Although the
sessions are open to all delegates, participation in discussions during
agenda reviews is normally limited to Committee members. Comments and
input are welcome when specific topics are scheduled in the Committee
agendas.

All sessions of NCWM meetings are normally open to members of the
Conference. If a Committee Chairman recognizes a special situation
involving a proprietary issue (e.g., NTEP appeals) or sensitive issue or
other substantive need, that portion of the session dealing with the
special issue may be closed, provided that: (1) the Conference Chairman
(or in his absence the Chairman-Elect) approves, and (2) announcement of
the closed meeting is posted on or near the door to the meeting session
and on the announcement board at the registration desk. If at all
possible, the posting will be done at least a day prior to the planned
closed session. Please note that the 1-day notice will not always be
possible if a closed meeting is called on Sunday. Since this is a day
for agenda reviews and participants may make their travel reservations
in order to observe these agenda reviews, if a closed meeting becomes
necessary for Sunday, every effort will be made to limit such a meeting
to only part of the day.

To request an appearance with a Standing Committee, contact the
appropriate Technical Advisor by December 31, 2002:

Board of Directors Henry Oppermann (301) 975-5507

Laws and Regulations Committee Tom Coleman (301) 975-4868

Specifications & Tolerances Committee Juana Williams or (301) 975-3989

> Richard Suiter (301) 975-4406

Professional Development Committee

National Type Evaluation Program Committee Steve Cook (301) 975-4003

You may also contact the Executive Secretary, Henry Oppermann, at the
following address and telephone number:

> Weights and Measures Division
>
> National Institute of Standards and Technology
>
> 100 Bureau Drive, STOP 2600
>
> Gaithersburg, MD 20899-2600
>
> Telephone: (301) 975-5507

**Contact for More Information**

If you have questions about the program, registration, lodging, or
meeting arrangements, contact NCWM Headquarters at the following address
and telephone number:

> National Conference on Weights and Measures
>
> 15245 Shady Grove Road, Suite 130
>
> Rockville, MD 20850
>
> Telephone: (240) 632-9454

**Reports**

There will **not** be a transcript of the proceedings of the Interim
Meetings. Each committee will prepare its report to the NCWM containing
its recommendations based upon the presentations, discussions, and
deliberations on all matters on its agenda that were taken up during the
Interim Meetings. These reports will be published in the Committee
Reports for the 89th Annual Meeting, NCWM Publication 16, to be mailed
to the NCWM membership in May 2004.

**89th Annual Meeting of the National Conference on Weights and
Measures**

The National Conference on Weights and Measures 89^th^ Annual Meeting
will be held at the Hilton Pittsburgh and Towers in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, from July 11-15, 2004. The room rate for the Annual
Meeting will be \$87 per night (Federal Government per diem), single or
double, plus tax. For reservations please call the hotel at (412)
391-4600. The reservations cut-off date is Friday, June 11, 2004.

**Units of Measurement**

In keeping with the provisions of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness
Act of 1988, which establishes the metric system as the preferred system
of measurement for commerce and trade, units of the metric system have
been used in this document, except where industry has not yet converted
from the inch-pound system. In some instances, proposals are quoted in
the Committee agendas; they may appear in inch-pound units only.