CIRCULAR 1 April 1995

1. There are two important issues that I need to bring to the attention of all Forum members.
   
   These are:
   - OIML has changed the dates of the meetings in Beijing to 23-27 October. To retain conjunction with these meetings I have changed the date of the next Forum meeting to Sunday, 22 October.
   - At a meeting of Specialist Regional Bodies in the Asia-Pacific held in Sydney on Monday, 10 April, there was discussion on the availability of funds from Australian Government agencies for APEC initiatives and infrastructure development. To allow us to respond to requests for funding applications I have enclosed a brief survey form with this Circular and would ask that you respond by 30 April. A more comprehensive and considered survey will be conducted later this year.
   
2. Follow-up to the Sydney Meeting
   
   The Report of the Forum meeting held in Sydney on 27-30 November 1994 was circulated to all Forum members on 8 December 1994, together with a request that:
   1. You forward copies of your national measurement legislation and prepacked articles legislation to the Secretariat by 31 January.
   2. You indicate to the secretariat by 28 February if:
   3. you wish to participate in the proposed intercomparisons;
   4. you wish to participate in the working parties on:
   • a) Legislative Harmonisation
   • b) Prepacked Articles
   • c) Training in Legal Metrology
   A number of members have responded to these requests and I would urge all members to provide their responses as soon as possible.
   
3. Directory of Legal Metrology in the Asia-Pacific
   
   Sixteen member economies have now finalised their entries and it is expected that the Directory will be published in April. A copy of the Directory will be sent to each organisation participating in the Forum and additional copies will be available for sale to other organisations and industry.
   
4. APEC Meetings
   
   4.1 The Forum was invited to attend meetings of the APEC subcommittee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC) in Fukuoka, Japan, from 8-9 February. The Forum was represented by Mr J Birch (Australia - Convenor) and Mr Katsuo Seta (NRLM - Japan).
   A joint meeting of the five Asia-Pacific specialist regional bodies with interested APEC member economies was held on 8 February and the specialist regional bodies attended the meeting of the subcommittee on Standards and Conformance on 9 February. Reports of these meetings are attached.
   4.2 Following on from the Fukuoka meetings, a further meeting of Specialist Regional Bodies was held in Sydney on 10 April. This meeting considered coordination of programs between the specialist bodies and how these programs would meet the APEC objectives. Documentation from this meeting is attached.
   
5. Second Forum Meeting - Beijing - 22 October 1995
   
   The second meeting of APLMF will be held in Beijing on Sunday, 22 October. This meeting will precede a series of OIML meetings from 23-27 October. Of particular interest for all Forum members will be the OIML Symposium on metrological activities in developing countries on 23 and 24 October. The objectives of the symposium are economic and policy issues, institutional structure, traceability, planning and equipping metrological and testing laboratories and other general topics relating to legal metrology and related subjects with emphasis on the needs of developing countries. A preliminary list of lectures is attached. The symposium is open to all interested persons.
   
6. Forum Working Parties
   
   The Secretariat will be circulating questionnaires to all Forum members in April on legislative harmonisation and prepacked articles. These are topics that it should be possible to identify quickly the extent of harmonisation in the region.
   It will be valuable if we can report progress on both these issues at the APEC meetings in October.

ATTACHMENT
SURVEY ON TECHNICAL INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

• Training needs including staff exchanges.
• Attendance at Conferences, Forum meetings and specialist technical committee meetings.
• Testing Facilities.
• Development of Legislation.
• Please retum this survey by 30 April 1995 to: