[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 169 (Thursday, August 30, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52693-52694]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-21460]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

[Docket No. 120817356-2356-01]


Request for Comments on U.S. Technical Participation in the 14th 
Conference of the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML)

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 
seeks comments concerning U.S. technical participation in the 14th 
Conference of the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML). 
This conference is held once every four years and was last held in 
2008.
    Interested parties are requested to review and submit comments on 
the 24 OIML Recommendations and Documents on legal measuring 
instruments that will be presented for ratification by the Conference. 
Comments may also be submitted on other issues relevant to the 
Conference.

DATES: Written comments should be submitted to the NIST International 
Legal Metrology Program no later than Friday, September 21, 2012, at 5 
p.m. Eastern Time. The 14th OIML International Conference of Legal 
Metrology will be held in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, October 3 
through Thursday, October 4, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to the International Legal 
Metrology Program, Office of Weights and Measures, National Institute 
of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 2600, 
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-2600. Comments may also be submitted via email 
to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Ralph Richter, International Legal 
Metrology Program, Office of Weights and Measures, National Institute 
of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 2600, 
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-2600; telephone: 301/975-3997; fax: 301/975-
8091; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) is an 
intergovernmental treaty organization in which the United States and 56 
other nations are members. Its principal purpose is to harmonize 
national laws and regulations pertaining to testing and verifying the 
performance of legal measuring instruments used for equity in commerce, 
for public and worker health and safety, and for monitoring and 
protecting the environment. The harmonized results promote the 
international trade of measuring instruments and products affected by 
measurement.
    The U.S. Department of State has delegated technical participation 
in OIML to the National Institute of Standards and Technology. NIST 
coordinates participation of U.S. manufacturers, users of weighing and 
measuring instruments, legal metrology officials and other U.S. 
stakeholders in the technical work of OIML by circulating draft 
voluntary standards

[[Page 52694]]

(called Recommendations) and other OIML publications for comment. NIST 
also leads U.S. delegations to OIML Technical Meetings.

Additional Information

    All parties with an interest in the work of the OIML are requested 
to review and submit comments on any or all of the 24 Recommendations 
and Documents that will be presented for ratification by the 
Conference. All submitted comments will be reviewed and considered by 
NIST staff in the development of U.S. positions that will be put 
forward at the 14th Conference of OIML. Within two weeks of the comment 
submission deadline established in the DATES section above, all parties 
that submit comments will be provided with feedback from NIST staff 
concerning the disposition of their comments.
    Each of the 24 Recommendations and Documents that will be presented 
for ratification by the Conference has already gone through a multi-
year development and review-process involving technical experts and 
legal metrology experts from the United States and around the world. 
Ratification by the Conference is the final step in this process. The 
Recommendations and Documents have been divided into two categories--
Category 1: those already approved by the International Committee of 
Legal Metrology (CIML) between 2009 and 2011, and Category 2: those 
that are expected to be submitted directly to the Conference for 
ratification. Because the Recommendations and Documents in Category 2 
have not yet received CIML approval, comments received on these 
Recommendations and Documents are of additional importance to NIST 
staff. The 24 Recommendations and Documents and the OIML-member nations 
holding the secretariat responsible for their development are listed 
below:

Category 1

     R14, ``Polarimetric saccharimeters graduated in accordance 
with the ICUMSA International Sugar Scale'' (Russian Federation);
     R35, ``Material Measures of Length for General Use'' 
(United Kingdom);
     R48, ``Tungsten ribbon lamps for the calibration of 
radiation thermometers'' (Russian Federation);
     R75, ``Heat meters'' (Germany);
     R80, ``Road and rail tankers with level gauging'' 
(Germany);
     R84, ``Platinum, copper, and nickel resistance 
thermometers (for industrial and commercial use)'' (Russian 
Federation);
     R92, ``Wood moisture meters--Verification methods and 
equipment: general provisions'' (P.R. China and United States);
     R120, ``Standard capacity measures for testing measuring 
systems for liquids other than water'' (Switzerland);
     R124, ``Refractometers for the measurement of the sugar 
content of grape musts'' (Russian Federation);
     R127, ``Radiochromic film dosimetry system for ionizing 
radiation processing of materials and Products'' (United States);
     R131, ``Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) dosimetry systems 
for ionizing radiation processing of materials and products'' (United 
States);
     R132, ``Alanine EPR dosimetry systems for ionizing 
radiation processing of materials and products'' (United States);
     R133, ``Liquid-in-glass thermometers'' (United States);
     R134, ``Automatic instruments for weighing road vehicles 
in motion and measuring axle loads'' (United Kingdom);
     R137, ``Gas Meters'' (Netherlands);
     Amendment to R138, ``Vessels for commercial transactions'' 
(Japan);
     R143, ``Instruments for the continuous measurement of 
SO2 in stationary source emissions'' (Netherlands);
     B3, ``OIML Basic Certificate System for OIML Type 
Evaluation of Measuring Instruments'' (United States);
     B10, ``Framework for a Mutual Acceptance Arrangement on 
OIML Type Evaluations'' (United States); and
     D16, ``Principles of assurance of metrological control'' 
(Czech Republic).

Category 2

     R46. ``Active electrical energy meters'' (Australia);
     R106, ``Automatic rail-weighbridges'' (United Kingdom);
     R126, ``Evidential Breath Analyzers'' (France); and
     D1, ``Considerations for a law on metrology'' (United 
States).
    Parties with an expressed interest in particular topics may obtain 
copies of the OIML Conference technical agenda, including copies of the 
Recommendations to be ratified, from the OIML International Conference 
Web site at http://bucharest.oiml.org, at the OIML Web site at 
www.oiml.org, or from the NIST International Legal Metrology Program.

    Dated: August 24, 2012.
Willie E. May,
Associate Director for Laboratory Programs.
[FR Doc. 2012-21460 Filed 8-29-12; 8:45 am]
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