[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 193 (Wednesday, October 5, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69042-69043]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-24076]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

[Docket No. 160927891-6891-01]


Request for Comments on U.S. Technical Participation in the 15th 
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 15th 
Conference of the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) 
held in Strasbourg, France, Wednesday, October 19 through Thursday, 
October 20, 2016. This conference is held once every four years and was 
last held in 2012. Interested parties are requested to review and 
submit comments on the 16 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 Wednesday, October 12, 2016, at 
5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The 15th OIML International Conference of Legal 
Metrology will be held in Strasbourg, France, Wednesday, October 19 
through Thursday, October 20, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted via email to 
[email protected] or be mailed 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.

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 60 
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 NIST. 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 (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 16 Recommendations 
and Documents that will be presented for ratification by the 
Conference. Any submitted comments will be reviewed and considered by 
NIST staff in the development of U.S. positions that will be put 
forward at the 15th Conference of OIML. NIST will consider all feedback 
and will implement it into the Conference as appropriate.
    Each of the 16 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 2013 and 2015, 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, the comments received on these 
Recommendations and Documents are of additional importance to NIST 
staff. The 16 Recommendations and Documents and the OIML-member nations 
that held the convenership of the project group responsible for their 
development are listed below:

Category 1

     D11, ``General requirements for measuring instruments--
Environmental conditions'' (Netherlands);
     R46-3, ``Active electrical energy meters--Part 3: Test 
report format'' (Australia);
     R49, ``Water meters for cold potable water and hot water--
Part 1: Metrological and technical requirements, Part 2: Test methods, 
and Part 3: Test report format'' (United Kingdom);
     R50, ``Continuous totalizing automatic weighing 
instruments (belt weighers)--Part 1: Metrological and technical 
requirements, Part 2: Test procedures, Part 3: Test report format 
(United Kingdom);
     R79, ``Labeling requirements for prepackages'' (South 
Africa);
     R100, ``Atomic absorption spectrometer systems for 
measuring metal pollutants'' (United States);
     R117, ``Dynamic measuring systems for liquids other than 
water--Part 2: Metrological controls and performance tests, and Part 3: 
Test report format'' (United States and Germany);
     R137-3, ``Gas meters--Part 3: Test report format 
(Netherlands);
     R139, ``Compressed gaseous fuels measuring systems for 
vehicles--Part 1: Metrological and technical requirements, Part 2: 
Metrological controls and performance tests, and Part 3: Test report 
format'' (Netherlands);
     R144, ``Instruments for continuous measuring CO and 
NOX in stationary source emissions'' (Netherlands);
     R145, ``Ophthalmic instruments--Impression and applanation 
tonometers'' (Germany); and
     V1, ``International vocabulary of terms in legal metrology 
(VIML)'' (Poland).

Category 2

     R59, ``Moisture meters for cereal grains and oilseeds'' 
(United States and P.R. China);
     R87 ``Quantity of product in prepackages'' (South Africa);

[[Page 69043]]

     New Recommendation (not yet numbered) ``Protein measuring 
instruments for cereal grains and oilseeds'' (Australia); and
     New Recommendation (not yet numbered) ``Standard blackbody 
radiator for the temperature range from -50 [deg]C to 2500 [deg]C'' 
(Russian Federation).
    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://strasbourg.oiml.org, at the OIML Web site at 
www.oiml.org, or from the NIST International Legal Metrology Program.

    Authority:  15 U.S.C. 272(b).

Kevin Kimball,
NIST Chief of Staff.
[FR Doc. 2016-24076 Filed 10-4-16; 8:45 am]
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