G/TBT/GEN/231  
 
20 September 2017  
(17-4973)  Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 
ACTIVITIES OF THE INTERNATIONAL BU REAU OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES (BIPM)  
RELATED TO THE WORK OF THE WTO TBT COMMI TTEE  
STATEMENT BY THE BIPM  
This document contains information provided by the BIPM at the TBT Committee meeting of  14–15 
June 2017 under Agenda Item 4 (Technical Cooperation Activities) and Agenda Item 5 (Updating 
by Observers ). 
 
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1  AGENDA ITEM 4: TECHN ICAL COOPERATION ACT IVITIES  
1.1.  A sponsor funded programme has been launched in earnest last year to provide capacity 
building and knowledge transfer (CBKT) opportunities for Member States and Associates with 
emerging metrology systems that have joined the BIPM recently. So far around 80 participants 
from 31 countries participated in such various training courses and projects .  
1.2.  Courses advertised have been heavily oversubscribed. The representative of the BIPM liaison 
organizations, such as ISO and ILAC lectured at some courses, as well as experts from around the 
world and our own staff. There is a dedicated webpage at the BIP M website that lists the 
completed, ongoing and planned projects. These include notably:  
a. A technical committee Leadership for the European National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) 
and a similar course for the G ulf region and a more general "Leaders of Tomorrow" 
training course focusing on the Americas and Africa that have been already successfully 
completed .  
b. Two laboratory based projects that are on -going related to "Metrology for Safe Food and 
Feed in Developing Economies " and "Metrology for Clean Air".  
c. A number of planned projects, including in November this year a "Sound beginning in the 
CIPM MRA " course from NMIs that have signed the CIPM MRA but not yet submitted 
calibration and measurement capabilities (CMCs)  (or are early in the process), and a 
combined laboratory and training course under development with UME the Turkish NMI.  
2  AGENDA ITEM 5: UPDAT ING BY OBSERVERS  
2.1.  The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) is an intergovernmental 
organization est ablished by the Metre Convention, through which Member States act together on 
matters related to measurement science and measurement standards. There are currently 58 
Member States and a further 41 Associate States and Economies who participate in the acti vities 
of the BIPM. The mission of the BIPM is to work with the NMIs of its Member States, the RMOs and 
strategic partners world -wide and to use its international and impartial status to promote and 
advance the global comparability of measurements for:  
 Scientific discovery and innovation,  
 Industrial manufacturing and international trade,  G/TBT/GEN/231  
 
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   Sustaining the quality of life and the global environment.  
2.2.  Crucially, the work of the BIPM and NMIs world -wide underpins accreditation and 
documentary standards and vir tually, all conformity assessment activities. This gives me an 
opportunity to emphasize  for all WTO members that for effective and internationally recognized  
conformity assessment, vital for the WTO TBT mission, it is extremely important that at national 
level the key elements of the quality infrastructure, (that is the metrology, accreditation and 
documentary standards) are effective and work well together.  
2.3.   Scientific work towards redefinition of the kilogram, ampere, kelvin, and mole continues, and 
recent scientific results support the expectation that redefinition will occur at the General 
Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in 2018. Measurement uncertainty targets have 
been set as such that redefinition of the units should not impact trade issues .  
2.4.   CIPM MRA remains a core element of international recognition of national measurements 
standards and as previously reported, is undergoing a review of its implementation recogni zing 15 
successful years of operation. In this respect the recommendations w ere published and now, we 
are entering into the implementation phase.  
2.5.   The BIPM works with a large number of other international /intergovernmental organiz ations, 
including the WMO, the IAEA and of course the WTO. Probably the closest collaboration is with  the 
OIML, our sister organi zation responsible for legal metrology that is the application of legal 
requirements to measurements and measuring instruments. The two organi zations joint run, for 
example, the 'World Metrology Day' celebrating the 20 May signi ng 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 theme for 2017 is "Measurements for 
transport " recognizing the importance of  measurements in a rapidly changing world. The design 
work on the 2017 poster was prepared jointly by the NMI of Colombia (INM).  
2.6.  A number of international organizations (some are here today) that collaborate together on 
supporting developing countries through the DCMAS Network (A network on metrology, 
accreditation, standardization and conformity assessment for developing countries)  are working 
towards a common definition of "Quality Infrastructure ".  
2.7.  BIPM, the OIML and the UNIDO also closely cooperate within the DCMAS Network. As a result 
of this strategic partnership in May 2017 these organizations has jointly developed a new broch ure 
"The role of metrology in the context of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals ", which 
highlights the contribution of metrology to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable 
Development. This new brochure is a successful continuation of two additional brochures dedicated 
to the role of standards  and the role of accreditation in the context of the 2030 SDGs  that were 
published in 2016.  
 
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