The 2007 International Vocabulary of Metrology (VIM), JCGM 200:2008 [ISO/IEC Guide 99]: Meeting the need for intercontinentally understood concepts and their associated intercontinentally agreed terms

Abstract

Unambiguous and consistent concepts and terms such as measurand, metrological traceability, measurement uncertainty, comparability of measurement results, target measurement uncertainty, etc., must govern the description of measurements in order to enable a valid comparison of measurement results. That is not yet the case as numerous workshops over the last decade have shown worldwide and as chemical literature continuously displays. For international trade in food and feed to be fair, for border-crossing implementation of environmental regulations to be the same for all parties concerned, for interchangeability of results of clinical measurements to become a reality, for any border-crossing interpretation of measurement results in chemistry to become possible, well understood and mutually accepted, common and well defined concepts and terms are essential. Similarly, their translations from one language – English – to 30–40 other languages, must be realized and fixed unequivocally. Countries using English as common language have not yet fully realized that they are at a considerable advantage over countries where such translated terms describing concepts may not yet be available, let alone understood and accepted. A number of ambiguities in the definitions and terms are described which illustrate the importance of the revision (1997–2007) of the International Vocabulary of Metrology (VIM), henceforth conveniently called “VIM3”, especially since chemical measurement is covered in this VIM for the first time in history: ‘measurand’ ‘metrological comparability of measurement results’ ‘metrology’ ‘metrological compatibility of measurement results’ ‘measurement result’ ‘metrological traceability’ (incl ‘to the SI’) ‘measurement uncertainty’ ‘target measurement uncertainty’ ‘calibration hierarchy’ ‘quantity’ and many others. It is concluded that the revised VIM is of primordial importance for good understanding within and between the measurement communities worldwide.