WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/84 
1 May 2009 
 (09-2126) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
UPDATE ON RELEVANT ON-GOING WORK IN THE OIML 
 
  The following information was provided by the International Organization of Legal 
Metrology (OIML)  at the TBT Committee meeting of 18-19 March 2009. 
 
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 1. The OIML works for international harmonisation in the field of legal metrology.  The 
following recent developments are of interest to the TBT Committee: 
I. OIML / BIPM / UNIDO MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU) 
2. The two international metrology organisations  signed an MoU with UNIDO in December 
2008.  The aim of this partnership is to enhance the impact of industrial development on economic 
growth and to minimize technical  barriers to trade (TBT) which are still a major obstacle to exports 
from developing countries and countries with economies in transition. 
3. During the signature event, it was decided that to launch the cooperation, training guides to 
help laboratories in developing countries overcom e problems on metrology and legal metrology will 
be published. 
4. For further information, please contact ian.dunmill@oiml.org
 or L.Goonatilake@unido.org . 
II. CHANGE IN THE ORGANISATION OF THE OIML’S ACTIONS FOR 
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES 
5. In recent years, the OIML has tried a number of methods to improve the way it tries to help 
developing countries with the improvement of their le gal metrology infrastructure.  At its Conference 
in October 2008, the OIML decided to appoint the non-salaried post of Facilitator for developing 
country matters (Eberhard Seiler), who will be responsible  for creating the links between legal 
metrology needs and those able to supply the exper tise required to address these needs.  The facilitator 
will also try to improve communication betwee n developing countries themselves and their 
communication with the OIML and other industrialised  countries. Eberhard Seiler can be contacted at: 
eberhardseiler@msn.com . 
III. OIML AWARD FOR EXCELLENT CONT RIBUTIONS TO LEGAL METROLOGY 
6. One of the initiatives put into place by Eber hard Seiler is an award which will allow 
significant efforts made by individuals or organisa tions in developing countries in improving their 
legal metrology systems to receive some recogniti on. Further details will soon be available on the 
OIML web site: www.oiml.org . G/TBT/GEN/84 
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  IV. OIML SEMINAR TO BE HELD IN KENYA 
7. The OIML will be holding its annual Committee Meeting in Mombasa, Kenya in October 
2009.  In conjunction with this meeting, a one day seminar on “ Stakes and priorities of legal 
metrology for trade”  will be held.  The following information is taken from the OIML’s web site for 
the CIML Meeting and Seminar, which will soon be available at www.oiml.org/events/kenya
. 
Confidence is a major issue for domestic and international trade. Suppliers and buyers 
conclude a transaction based on a comm on agreement on the goods, products or 
services that are sold and this calls for an agreement on the quantity and quality of 
these goods, products or services. 
All this is based on measurements. These measurements are usually carried out with 
the measurement facilities of the supplier or of  the client and the other party needs to 
have confidence in the measurement resu lts. The measurement facilities are very 
often automated so that performing the meas urements may be done by operators who 
are not specialists in measurements or in metrology. Therefore confidence in the 
measurement results derives principally from the ability of the equipment to deliver 
correct measurements under variable measu rement and environmental conditions and 
from the ability of this equipment to be insen sitive to possible operator errors and to 
tampering. 
This is why many of these measurements fall within the expanding scope of legal 
metrology. The aim of legal metrology is to set up appropriate requirements and controls on the equipment to ensure that it perform as mentioned above and will 
therefore provide appropriate confidence in the measurement results. 
Without such confidence, commerce and trade would be subject to multiple 
measurements carried out at the initiative of each party to the transaction, resulting in 
disputes due to differences in measurement s. The additional cost of such multiple 
measurements and of solving these dis putes would considerably affect trade 
efficiency and jeopardize the economy. Le gal metrology is an essential tool for 
assuring fair trade and for the efficiency of an economy. 
The mission of the OIML is to develop the appropriate tools to respond to these 
needs: internationally agreed requirements on measuring instruments, methods for the evaluation of instruments, methods and le gal provisions recommended to countries 
for setting up a national system appropriate to the needs of the economy and of 
citizens, developing mutual confidence between countries, mutual acceptance of 
evaluation or measurement results obtained in  different countries, and more generally 
providing the necessary tools that countries may use to facilitate trade and to protect their interests and the interests of all their stakeholders. 
This Seminar will present the needs of th e many legal metrology stakeholders:  
professions concerned by measurements with in the scope of legal metrology at 
domestic or international level (commerce,  agriculture, food products, commodities, 
energy measurement, transport, etc.); consumer associations; manufacturers of measuring instruments; public authorities in charge of certain domains (road safety, 
industrial safety, environment, water resources management, etc.). 
In this Seminar the different stakeholde rs are invited to present their needs and 
expectations, so that the last part of the Seminar may consist of a discussion on the 
priorities for the OIML in order to address these needs.  G/TBT/GEN/84 
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  V. TBT COMMITTEE WORKSHOP 16-17 MARCH 2009 
8. The OIML would like to congratulate the TBT secretariat on the organisation of this event, 
and to express its satisfaction at the level of inter est and importance given to metrology in general and 
to legal metrology in particular by various sp eakers during the workshop.  Although the OIML does 
not have any direct capacity-building programmes, as mentioned in item 2 above, we would be most 
happy to help any Members as far as possible with  questions they may have on legal metrology. 
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