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The principal objectives of the NMS Legal Metrology Programme are:
The Legal Metrology Programme underpins the availability and proper use of trustworthy measuring instruments as an essential requirement for a fair market in which competition can flourish through appropriate and equitable regulation. The programme enables the Secretary of State to fulfil specific obligations and enables NWML to meet its duties as an Executive Agency of the Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills and the obligations placed on the Agency such as implementing EU Directives and tasks falling under international treaties.
The Legal Metrology Programme enables the UK to maintain its pivotal position in the field of international legal metrology, developing and modernising internationally-accepted procedures and regulations in support of fair trade and in support of the UK’s trading position.
The Role of Legal Metrology in the UK
A regulated system of legal weights and measures is fundamental to a sustainable trading economy. Legal metrology concerns itself with those measurements that relate to the world of business and trade. Every week in the UK, over a billion pounds worth of goods are weighed and measured at retail level alone. The National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) is the DIUS Executive Agency with responsibility for ensuring that all trade measurements are accurate, legal, and fair to buyer and seller. Together with Local Authorities, with BERR's Consumer and Competition Policy and DIUS' National Measurement System Directorate, NWML oversees a system of measurement and control which ensures that goods traded within the UK are weighed or measured accurately. NWML provides support for Trading Standards Officers and other approved persons who are directly responsible for making sure these measures are correct. Additionally, NWML has the responsibility for the interfacing of other countries legal metrology systems with the UK’s system and for promoting the international harmonisation and rationalisation of technical requirements and procedures related to measurement for the purpose of trade between nations.
There are several elements to the system of control on legal weights and measures in the UK. These include definition of units of measurement, the maintenance of facilities which realise these definitions and provide a source of traceable calibration, the ability to inspect measuring equipment, verify its operational performance against defined standards and provide appropriate certification and approval. Additionally, there are requirements to draft legislation and regulation and advise on its implementation and interpretation. NWML is structured to meet these requirements and the proposed programme has been developed to enable these requirements to be met.
Beneficiaries of the Legal Metrology Programme
Legal metrology is an essential constituent of everyday society with direct impact on the lives of individual citizens and on the competitiveness of all companies and organisations engaged in trade of goods. The regulation of measurement, particularly in the area of trade, has been undertaken by government for hundreds of years. By specifying requirements for measuring equipment and its use and enforcing these requirements through regular surveillance, governments maintain confidence in measurements made in a wide variety of situations and protect consumers and others affected by the results of those measurements. Were weights and measures non-standard and arbitrary and were there no system of regulation and enforcement so that measures could vary from shop-to-shop, from area-to-area or, indeed, from day-to-day, there would be a breakdown of commercial business and significant unrest amongst the population.
Individual citizens as purchasers of goods and all companies engaged in trade are clearly beneficiaries of this programme. Specific aspects of the legal metrology programme address the requirements of different sectors. Thus, there are projects aimed specifically at assisting enforcement bodies such as Trading Standards Departments; projects aimed at assisting manufacturers and users of measuring equipment; and projects which are key to supporting implementation of government legislation.
Programme Theme Structure
The Legal Metrology Programme has been structured into eight separate themes, each theme looking at a specific aspect of Legal metrology. The eight themes are entitled:
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