Inaugural OIML Certification System (OIML-CS) Management Committee, Maintenance Group and Review Committee meetings held in Sydney Australia on the 20-22 March 2018

By Mr Bill Lozoides (Australia) and Dr Charles Ehrlich (USA)

Australia welcomed delegates to the inaugural committee meetings, with hot weather and a packed schedule.
 
Prior to the official meeting of the Management Committee (MC), the Maintenance Group (MG) (which is responsible for making recommendations on documents and procedures in the OIML-CS to the MC) and the Review Committee (RC) (which is responsible for assessing OIML Issuing Authority, Test Laboratory and Expert applications) met to consider proposals and make recommendations to the MC regarding the following issues:

• An amendment of the criteria for the approval of experts and specifying that the assessment team should have the relevant expertise
• extension of the transition periods
• criteria for the use of old test data for issuing OIML-CS certificates
• reviewing the requirements regarding the application of ISO/IEC 17065
• handling modular approvals

 
The MC itself was attended by 21 member countries, 17 were represented in person at the meeting and four countries had given proxies.
 
This meant that the meeting was quorate for the purposes of voting in accordance with the voting rules specified in OIML B 18:2017.
 
Key outcomes of the meeting included:
               

1. On the recommendation of the Review Committee, the initial approval of 9 OIML Issuing Authorities, 20 Test labs 60 Legal Metrology Experts and 6 Management System Experts that will underpin the integrity of the system. More applications in these categories have been received and are being duly processed.
   
   
2. The current PD-07 does not allow Basic test data to be used to issue a Scheme A certificate, but there is a “backdoor” where old test data could be used to issue a Scheme B certificate and then a Scheme B certificate could be used to issue a Scheme A certificate. The Chair of the MC stressed that we want manufacturers to invest in the new system, but that trust in the data that is used to issue certificates was also critical to the success of the OIML-CS. A suitable balance and solution was therefore required.  
   
   After a significant discussion, the MC agreed on the principle of using test data issued before 1/1/2018 as the basis for issuing Scheme A certificates under certain conditions. The MC members were asked to send Paul Dixon (OIML-CS Executive Secretary) suggestions for these conditions and the MG will amend PD-07 to specify the criteria and conditions for using ‘old’ test data for issuing Scheme A certificates.
   
   
3. It was agreed to extend the 2 year transition period to 3 years, for OIML Issuing Authorities to demonstrate compliance with ISO/IEC 17065 through accreditation or peer assessment, to allow a working party to explore the applicability of ISO/IEC 17065 and to explore other possible options for member economies.
   
   
4. Recommendations that fulfil the criteria specified in OIML B 18 in the OIML-CS but which were not originally included in the system was discussed. According to the rules they should be included and it was agreed that a recommendation to include them (from 1/1/2019) would be made to the CIML accordingly.
   
   
5. Proposed extension of the transition periods from Scheme B to Scheme A.  The reason for the proposed extension was the time needed to arrange accreditation or peer assessments (as experts had only just been approved at this meeting) and time to conduct the review and approval processes. Experience from the recent approval of the OIML Issuing Authorities and Test Laboratories suggested that the original transition periods were too short. After discussion the MC agreed to the proposed changes and a recommendation will be made to the CIML. It was also agreed that Paul Dixon would put out a further call for experts.  
   
   

A great couple of days thanks to Paul Dixon (BIML) Secretariat skills and the Chairmanship of Cock Oosterman (Netherlands).
 
Further information regarding the meeting and its outcomes is available here.