The EU internal market, international trade as well as EU legislation in many
sectors depend on chemical measurement results. Reliable measurements are
needed to allow recognition of measurement results across borders and to
reduce technical barriers to trade. Conception, implementation and monitoring
of EU legislation in a uniform way across an enlarged EU requires
standardisation and assessment of the quality of measurement results provided
by the control laboratories.
The measurement infrastructure in Europe is supported by international and
European organisations like
European Accreditation (EA),
European Organisation for Standardisation (CEN) and the
network of the European metrology institutes (EUROMET), a European
collaboration in measurement standards. These organisations rely on technical
assistance from the Member States and IRMM, which is a signatory of the
Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) of the International Committee of
Weights and Measures (CIPM) along with the world’s leading metrology
institutes, and a member of the EUROMET.
IRMM organises interlaboratory comparisons in close collaboration with EA and
the Directorates-General for Enterprise and Taxation and Customs Union. The
International Measurement Evaluation Programme (IMEP) enables assessing in
how far laboratory accreditation is equivalent across the Member States. For
instance, IRMM has organised an interlaboratory comparison for laboratories
measuring sulfur routinely. 15 customs laboratories from the EU Member States
participated, underpinning the activities of the Directorate-General for
Taxation and Customs Union to improve the quality of results in their field.
Research on measurement techniques and methodologies is performed in the
framework of EUROMET and the key comparisons of the
Bureau International de Poids et Mesures (BIPM) and its
Comité Consultatif pour la Quantité de Matière (CCQM),
establishing the best achievable measurement quality.
IRMM also organises key comparisons, which are linked to the BIPM key
comparisons especially for radioactivity and chemical measurements, and
provides high quality reference materials.