Metrology, essential to trade, industry and society

Abstract

Internal markets as well as the globalization of trade, industry and society require comparability of calibration, measurement and test results through traceability to the International System of Units (SI), which represents the coherent and long-term stable fixed anchor points in measurement. Internal markets, trade and accreditation agreements also require that non-tariff barriers to trade are removed. The removal of Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and implementation of Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) measures should lead to a situation where ‘once measured or tested, everywhere accepted’. To achieve this situation, a credible, transparent metrology agreement needs to be implemented under the Inter-Governmental Treaty of the Metre Convention. The need for a reliable world metrology system is driven not only by trade requirements but equally by societal requirements. Improvement of the quality of life is highly served by reliable, traceable and more accurate measurements, particularly in areas such as health care, food safety and nutritional content, environmental and pollution control and climate change, forensics and security. In addition, credible ‘soft/perceptive’ measurements, such as smell, taste, colour, glance, form, among others, will contribute to the quality of life. Sustainable competitiveness and innovation require accurate, traceable measurement results, not only in the ‘classical’ field of physical measurements, but also in the fields of chemical analysis, advanced materials and material properties and in new fields like nano-metrology and biotechnology. These new areas of metrology also require the development of new measurement technologies. The wide application of information technology, in the form of fully automated, remote-controlled and monitored measurement systems, also requires new innovative approaches. In as much that accurate, comparable measurements are essential for a fair and safe society, it is evident that the authorities have formulated and are increasingly formulating regulations that contain requirements with respect to traceability and measurement uncertainty. The economic interest in good measurements is well demonstrated by the fact that global trade in commodities amounts to more than 12 trillion USD, of which 80% is affected by standards and regulation. The compliance costs are estimated to be about 10% of the production costs. The global markets of clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine and pharmaceuticals have a value of some 300 billion USD per year. Annual savings as a consequence of comparable, more accurate measurement results with a smaller measurement uncertainty will easily amount up to many billions of U.S. dollars. Presented at the 3rd International Conference on Metrology, November 2006, Tel Aviv, Israel.