Legal metrology 2016

A subject the committee has addressed in the light of recent developments concerns measuring instruments in the field of e-mobility. To this end, a public consultation by the Rule Determination Committee took place on 31 August 2016 on the subject of “measuring instruments within the e-mobility field of application”; this consultation was met with positive feedback from the circles involved. The 90-odd representatives of industrial firms, among them manufacturers and users of charging stations, network operators, electricity suppliers, automotive manufacturers, consumer protection agencies, conformity assessment bodies, state-approved test centers and governmental authorities, commented on numerous issues surrounding the Measures and Verification Act that are important for the manufacturing and use of charging stations. For example, the attendees asked which measurands are relevant for invoicing, how these measurement values should be indicated to the user of the charging station and how this data should be stored for safety reasons, if necessary.

Since the new Measures and Verification Act was introduced, PTB’s Conformity Assessment Body has offered conformity assessments for more than 150 measuring instrument types as required by the new legislation. On 21 April 2016, the European Directives for measuring instruments and non-automatic weighing instruments entered into force. To fulfill these directives, all European conformity assessment bodies offering conformity assessments for these measuring instruments were required to renotify themselves. PTB‘s Conformity Assessment Body, which carries out conformity assessments for all legally regulated measuring instruments and peripheral devices in Germany and Europe, was renotified as the first of all European conformity assessment bodies.

The General Assembly on Metrology and Verification was modernized by the introduction of the new Act and is now a platform for the exchange of information and experience of all stakeholders – besides PTB, the verification authorities, test centers, conformity assessment bodies and the expert institutions and associations (manufacturers, users, consumer protection).

In October 2016, the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) passed a resolution to introduce a new certification system. Beginning in 2018, the new OIML certification system (OIMLCS) will replace the current certification system (consisting of Basic and MAA certificates) and lead to a uniform certification system.