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From the PWGDC Chairman
A voice for Developing Countries
Eberhard Seiler, April 2008
As discussed during the 42nd CIML Meeting in Shanghai, the OIML is developing a new strategy to better organize cooperation with (and of course support for) Developing Countries.
Issues that concern Developing Countries have always been allocated high priority by the Organization, and now our aim is to make the most of the modern communications technology that is available to us, in order to improve this interaction even further.
Our new strategy aims to increase the involvement of the relevant legal metrology services and their representatives via personal contacts, and via the use of the OIML web site as described on the Developing Countries Work Groups home page under the heading Developing Countries, From the PWGDC Chairman.
Proposals, examples and ideas of how legal metrology activities can best be carried out, and how awareness can be raised, will be communicated through these channels with the aim of stimulating activities and thereby giving developing legal metrology services a voice.
In order to transform these ideas into reality, the former Chairman of the Permanent Working Group on Developing Countries (PWGDC) has been appointed as an Advisor by CIML President. The intention is to dissolve the PWGDC. Those in charge of legal metrology in Developing Countries would be contacted and encouraged to formulate their current difficulties, and to define the kind of support they deem necessary to overcome them. Certain actions would then be set into motion, and (very importantly) there would be ongoing reporting back on results.
If this project is confirmed by the next International Conference, it would also be the task of the Advisor to mobilize and organize the expertise, advice and support of CIML Members, experts and/or donors.
To underpin the importance of such activities and to provide an incentive, the Advisor's proposal for an OIML Award to honor Excellent Contribution to Legal Metrology in Developing Countries met with approval by the Presidential Council, and if accepted by the CIML this Award could raise awareness, and create a more favorable environment for legal metrology whilst promoting the work of the OIML.
The following describes the ideas behind such a potential OIML Award in more detail.
Why such an Award?
“to acknowledge and honor new and outstanding activities achieved by individuals, national services or regional legal metrology organizations contributing significantly to legal metrology objectives on national or regional levels”.
What could be rewarded?
• Setting up or extending legal metrology services;
• Implementation and enforcement of OIML Recommendations;
• New, effective and efficient methods to ensure correct measurements adapted to the country's situation;
• Contributions to consumer protection, fair trade, environmental protection, etc.;
• Procedures which can serve as models for other countries;
• Contributions to regional or international cooperation; and
• Any other activity promoting legal metrology.
Selection criteria
• Significance and importance of the contribution/achievement;
• Novelty; and
• Attractiveness for other legal metrology services.
Selection procedure
A list of Developing Country candidates would be prepared by the Advisor, to highlight the importance of the achievements to be honored together with a ranking.
The winner would be selected by the CIML President.
The OIML Award
• Certificate of appreciation signed by the CIML President;
• Token of appreciation (e.g. invitation to present the honored achievement at the next CIML Meeting or Conference, financing participation in training activities, or any other incentive taking into account OIML resources).
Dear Readers,
The OIML website offers new possibilities of communication. The subsite “Developing Countries” provides means which can be used to support or stimulate activities of legal metrology services especially in Developing Countries. As usually, the beginning is not easy. The new possibilities of interaction and communication need promotion. This is what I herewith try to do. I take this opportunity to explain a little bit in more detail the ideas:
Under the general topic (folder) “Developing Countries” we have several specific topics (subfolders) such as “From the PWGDC Chairman”, “Discussion Forum”, “Resources”, and so on.
Concerning the input (content) for the subfolders “Resources”, “Requests for assistance”, “Events”, “Training” and “Equipment” the headlines are self-explanatory. For example, everyone who has equipment to offer can put the details to the subfolder “Equipment”, everyone who wants to announce a training course can put the relevant information to the subfolder “Training” and so on.
The subfolder “Discussion Forum” is meant for questions and answers. If somebody, for example, discovers a specific problem during inspection or verification he or she may announce this under “Discussion Forum” and everybody who can contribute to a solution or can give advice is invited to do it the same way. Of course, problems can be discussed bilateral but using the web opens the possibility for others to benefit, too.
Additional subfolders can be created for specific subjects such as “Control of prepackages”.
There you can find some hints how to start such checks and you can also find first results of legal metrology services that started such checks recently. More results can be expected and they will underpin the necessity of checks for consumer protection and for ensuring fair trade.
Your comments and contributions to the website are most welcome. Don´t hesitate to make use of this possibility. Should you face technical problems to drop your contribution on the web the BIML and I (as far as I can) will help you.
Eberhard Seiler
