G/TBT/GEN/202  
 
21 September 2016  
(16-5010) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trad e Original: English  
 
BIPM  ACTIVITIES RE LATED TO THE WORK OF T HE TBT COMMITTEE  
STATEMENT BY THE INTERNATIONAL BUREAU  OF WEIGHTS AND MEASU RES  
This document contains the statement delivered by the BIPM at the TBT Committee meeting of  
15-16 June  2016 under Ag enda Item 5 (Update by Observers).  
 
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1.  The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) is an intergovernmental organization 
established by the Metre  Convention, through which Member States act together on matters 
related to measurement science and measu rement standards. There are currently 57 Member 
States and a further 41 Associated States and Economies who participate in the activities of the 
BIPM. The mission of the BIPM is to ensure and promote the global comparability of 
measurements, including the provision of the basis for a high -level coherent international system 
of units for:  
 Scientific discovery and innovation,  
 Industrial manufacturing and international trade,  
 Sustaining the quality of life and the global environment.  
2.  The unique role of the BIP M is based on its international and neutral character enabling it:  
 To coordinate the realization and improvement of the world -wide measurement system to 
ensure that it delivers accurate and comparable measurement results.  
 To undertake in its laboratories s cientific and technical activities in support of this system 
that are more efficiently carried out on behalf of Member States.  
 To promote the importance of metrology to science, industry and society, in particular 
through collaboration with other intergove rnmental organizations and international bodies 
and in international fora.  
3.  The unique role of the BIPM enables it to achieve its mission by developing the technical and 
organizational infrastructure of the  International System of units (SI) as the basis fo r the world -
wide traceability of measurement results. This is achieved both through technical activities in its 
laboratories and through coordination activities.  
1  NEWS AND DEVELOPMENT S 
4.  We have welcomed the State of Qatar became an Associate of the CGPM on 10 March 2016, 
and discussions are also advanced with a number of other states interested in participation.  
1.2  Redefinition – the revision of the SI  
5.  Work towards redefinition continues with proposals for new definitions of the kilogram, ampere, 
kelvin, and mo le in terms of fixed numerical values of the Planck constant, elementary charge, G/TBT/GEN/202  
 
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  Boltzmann constant, and Avogadro constant, respectively.  New scientific results will be consider 
up until July 2017, however given that recent scientific results have converg ed very satisfactorily, 
the expectation remains that redefinition will occur at the General Conference (CGPM) in 2018.  
6.  Work is advanced on the new mise en pratiques, that is , the set of instructions that allows the 
definition to be realized in practice at  the highest level.  The 9th edition of the SI brochure is being 
finalised in anticipation of redefinition.  
1.3  CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA) and the BIPM key comparison 
database (KCDB)  
7.  The 'Mutual Recognition Arrangement of National Measureme nt standards and of calibration 
and measurement certificates issued by National Metrology Institutes ' (CIPM MRA): The CIPM MRA 
participation continues to grow, it has been signed by the representatives of 101 institutes – from 
56 Member States, 41 Associat es of the CGPM, and 4 international organizations – and covers a 
further 153 institutes designated by the signatory bodies. Resolution 5 adopted at the General 
Conference in 2014, recognising 15 successful years of CIPM MRA operation and called for a revie w 
of its implementation and operation. The main challenge looking forward is around the workload 
associated with the underpinning comparisons and peer review processes, and how to take 
advantage of the confidence that has been established to ensure the CIP M MRA remains 
sustainable as participation continues to grow. A working group was established which undertook 
the consultation and review, including hosting workshops to ensure the widest possible input. The 
working group published its report which is avai lable on line at http://www.bipm.org/en/cipm -mra-
review/ . The coming months will focus around planning the practical steps necessary to implement 
the recommendations, which are being considered in det ail by the BIPM  in consultation with the 
CIPM Consultative Committees and the Joint Committee of the Regional Metrology Organisations 
and the BIPM. A formal implementation response will be presented by the BIPM to Member States 
and NMI Directors in Octobe r 2016.  
1.4  BIPM workshops  
8.  The BIPM hosted a two day International Metrology Resource Registry Workshop on 14th and 
15th April 2016. The aim was to address the challenge that the network of NMIs hold valuable 
collections of reference data and provide state -of-the-art metrology services, yet there is no easy 
way to find out, across all NMIs, where particular data and data -related services are located. 
Examples of such data include:  
 Standard Reference Data  
 Reference Data  
 Data associated with publications  
 Data ass ociated with Standard Reference Materials (SRMD)  
 Simulation data  
9.  Participants considered that there are significant advantages in establishing at the BIPM a 
register of available data. With the support of NIST a pilot phase project has been launched 
amongs t a sub group on NMIs to allow a meaningful presentation and demonstration to the wider 
NMI community in October 2016. Information is available at http://www.bipm.org /en/conference -
centre/bipm -workshops/resource -registry/   
10.  The draft report 'Report of the BIPM Workshop on Global to Urban Scale Carbon Measurement ' 
held in 2015 is now available at http://www.bipm.org/en/conference -centre/bipm -
workshops/carbon -measurements/   G/TBT/GEN/202  
 
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  1.5  Working with other International organisations  
11.  The BIPM works with a large number of other international/intergovernmental organisations, 
including the, the WM O, the IAEA and of course WTO. Probably the closet collaboration is with the 
OIML, our sister organisation responsible for legal metrology,  that is the application of legal 
requirements to measurements and measuring instruments.   The two organisations joi nt run, for 
example, the 'World Metrology Day ' celebrating the 20 May signing of the Metre Convention back 
in 1875. The initiative has become an excellent tool for raising awareness of the contribution of 
metrology to economic and social development. The t heme for 2016 recognised the importance of 
both measurements in a rapidly changing world, and at a technical level, the challenge of 
measuring in dynamic environments. The strapline is 'Measurements in a dynamic world '.   The 
design work on the 2016 poster , overseen jointly by the two organisations, was carried out by 
VNIIMS in Russia.  The poster, Directors messages and details of some 30 events organised 
worldwide are available at http://www.worldmetrologyd ay.org/   BIPM and OIML work alongside 
each other in a wide range of forums, including the quadripartite arrangement with ILAC and ISO, 
in the working groups of the JCGM, in the DCMAS Network were we are jointly looking to overhaul 
the dedicated website, a nd more recently within the ISO CASCO WG44 looking at the revision of 
ISO/IEC 17025.  
1.6  BIPM Capacity Building and Knowledge Transfer Programme (BIPM CBKT)  
12.  It is recognised that all advanced nations already participate in the activities of the BIPM.  
Many Me mber States and Associates who have joined recently have emerging metrology systems, 
and that will be the case for all future potential participants. A sponsor funded programme has 
been launched to provide capacity building and knowledge transfer opportuni ties for such states. 
The first sponsorships have been secured and projects launched. Courses advertised have been 
heavily oversubscribed.  A dedicated webpage lists individual projects under BIPM CBKT: 
http://ww w.bipm.org/en/cbkt/   
1.7  BIPM Work Programme 2016 -2019  
13.  The BIPM began a new four year Work Programme in January 2016. The WP is openly 
available on the BIPM website: http://www.bipm.org/en/bipm/   
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