Bill 620.

Summary.

The bill proposes to approve in full the Metre Convention, signed in Paris on May 20, 1875, and amended on October 6, 1921, together with its annexed Regulations. The contracting parties undertake to establish and maintain, at shared expense, a permanent scientific International Bureau of Weights and Measures (Oficina Internacional de pesas y medidas) in Paris. The French Government (Gobierno francés) facilitates the acquisition or construction of its building. The bureau operates under the direction and exclusive supervision of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (Comité internacional de pesas y medidas), which is under the authority of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (Conferencia general de pesas y medidas). The conference comprises delegates of the contracting governments and is chaired by the serving president of the Paris Academy of Sciences (Academia de Ciencias de París).

The convention assigns the bureau the comparison and verification of metre and kilogram prototypes, the preservation of international prototypes, and the comparison of national standards against them. Its work also covers standard thermometers, nonmetric measures, geodetic rules, and other precision standards submitted for verification. Subject to the stipulated coordination and unanimous vote, it extends the bureau’s work to standards for electrical units, physical constants, and results obtained by other institutes. International prototypes and their counterparts remain deposited at the bureau, with access reserved to the committee.

Contracting states cover establishment, installation, and maintenance costs through contributions assessed on a scale linked to population. The convention provides for payment through the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerio de los Asuntos extranjeros de Francia) and a contribution from states that subsequently accede. It permits accession by notification to the French Government, amendment by mutual agreement, and denunciation after the treaty period has elapsed, subject to advance notice and forfeiture of the specified joint ownership rights. It also contains provisions on ratification and the convention’s entry into force.

The annexed Regulations describe the building, its working rooms, and the prototype depository. They entrust the committee with acquiring, adapting, or constructing the building and commissioning instruments. They govern installation costs and the annual allocation, comprising fixed and supplementary portions. They provide for a budget and financial reports and address overdue contributions: temporary allocation of unpaid amounts among other states, suspension of benefits and prerogatives, and subsequent exclusion under the stated conditions.

The conference meets in Paris to consider the dissemination and development of the metric system, receive reports, and renew part of the committee. The Regulations establish the committee’s composition, election of officers, meetings, voting, deliberations by correspondence, and provisional filling of vacancies. They also assign it the direction of joint metrological work, supervision of standards, and coordination of specialists. Further provisions govern the bureau’s organization and staff, charges for extraordinary work, diplomatic communications, access to the depository, and reports by the director and committee. They establish the contribution scale, rules concerning colonies, costs of producing and verifying standards, and the Regulations’ equal force with the convention. The bill’s final article provides for the proposed law to take effect upon promulgation.

By subject matter, the bill concerns the Government of the French Republic (Gobierno de la República francesa), the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerio de Asuntos extranjeros de Francia), and the United Nations (Organización de las Naciones Unidas), which are named in the instrument or its notes. It also concerns contracting states, metrology institutes, scientific societies, and sectors that use measurement standards.