Summary.
Article 1 proposes to approve in full the Convention establishing the International Organization of Legal Metrology (Organización Internacional de Metrología Legal), signed in Paris and amended in 1968. The convention creates a documentation and information center covering national verification and control services and measuring instruments. It also tasks the organization with translating legal provisions, developing principles of legal metrology, studying the alignment of methods and regulations, preparing model rules, defining instrument characteristics, and promoting ties among the competent national services. Its members are the states party to the convention.
The organization consists of the International Conference on Legal Metrology (Conferencia Internacional sobre Metrología Legal), the International Committee of Legal Metrology (Comité Internacional de Metrología Legal), and the International Bureau of Legal Metrology (Oficina Internacional de Metrología Legal). The Conference decides matters concerning the organization's purposes, establishes its governing bodies, and examines their reports. Member states provide documentation and may send up to three official representatives, one of whom votes; each state pays its representation expenses. Correspondents may send observers with an advisory voice and pay for requested services and publications. The convention sets attendance and voting thresholds, governs the election of officers, and requires the Conference to meet at least every six years. French is the official language, although other languages may be used for work and debate.
The Committee carries out the organization's tasks as the Conference's working body. It includes one representative appointed by each member state's government who performs active official duties in legal metrology. It elects officers for a six-year term and meets at least every two years. Its decisions require the attendance and votes prescribed by the convention; in special cases it may deliberate by correspondence. It may assign studies and other work to member states' services, working groups, and experts. The Bureau, under the Committee's direction and control, prepares meetings, maintains communications, collects documentation, and publishes a bulletin. Its administrative headquarters are in France. The convention governs the appointment and remuneration of its staff and assigns the Director responsibility for the Bureau's operations, funds, and budget.
The Conference sets operating and reserve appropriations; the Committee oversees their use and adopts financial regulations. Expenses are covered mainly through annual contributions from member states, determined by population classes, as well as publications, services, investments, entrance fees, and other income. The text governs payments, new members' obligations, and the loss of membership after three consecutive years without paying contributions, subject to a postponement granted by the Conference. It also sets the conditions for reinstatement and the distribution of assets if the organization is dissolved. For exchange parity and payments, it names Banque de France and the Bank of France (Banco de Francia).
The final provisions govern signature at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the French Republic (Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores de la República Francesa), ratification, accession, and deposit of instruments with the Government of the French Republic (Gobierno de la República Francesa). They establish the convention's entry into force, its application to declared territories, its duration and denunciation, dissolution of the organization, and acceptance of amendments. The original is deposited with the Government of the French Republic. Article 2 provides that the approving law would take effect upon promulgation. The subject matter concerns those institutions, public weights and measures services, and sectors that manufacture, verify, or use measuring instruments.
What it proposes.
- Approval of an international legal metrology convention.
- Organization and operation of cooperation among states concerning measuring instruments.
- Representation, funding, accession, and termination of participation in the organization.
Who it would affect.
- States party to the convention and states that accede to it.
- The bodies and staff of the International Organization of Legal Metrology.
- National services responsible for verifying and controlling measuring instruments.
- Correspondents and observers admitted under the convention.
Key points.
- Approves in full the convention creating the International Organization of Legal Metrology and defining its documentation, coordination, and standard-setting purposes for measuring instruments.Art. 1
- Establishes the Conference, Committee, and Bureau as the organization's bodies, with rules on representation, decisions, and operations.Art. 1
- Provides for member states to contribute documentation and funding and regulates advisory participation by correspondents and observers.Art. 1
- Assigns technical work to the Committee and meeting preparation, documentation, publications, and administration to the Bureau.Art. 1
- Regulates the budget, reserves, sources of income, and calculation and payment of state contributions.Art. 1
- Sets conditions for new members, loss of membership for nonpayment, reinstatement, and distribution of assets upon dissolution.Art. 1
- Establishes procedures for ratification, accession, territorial application, denunciation, and amendment of the convention.Art. 1
- Provides that the approving law would take effect upon promulgation.Art. 2