Legal metrology protects public safety, the environment, consumers and traders and is fundamental to fair trade. So what exactly is legal metrology? Whether it is a visit to the supermarket, butcher shop or other circumstances, we constantly weigh objects and carry out various types of measurements. Legal metrology, legal metrological control, ensures that the results of these instruments used in our daily lives are correct, of course within a certain margin of error. It is the responsibility of the legal metrological control to verify compliance with the applicable national legislation in metrology. This includes checking the correct quantity and content in prepackaged products; to verify compliance with national regulations. Measuring instruments are subjected to various tests to ensure compliance with relevant technical and legal requirements. Legal metrology is the part of metrology that is subject to legal/regulatory control. Every day, scales are used in various commercial areas. This means, on the one hand, that they must be regulated by legal metrology and, on the other hand, that they can undergo a lot of wear and tear and require constant maintenance – which is done through calibrations. ENAC is particularly active in this sector in two main areas: calibration and legal metrology, not to mention that in other sectors, metrology plays a key role in the overall practical activities.
The State organizes the infrastructure of legal metrology, through which the following objectives are achieved The verification of a measuring instrument is a conformity assessment procedure (which is different from the evaluation of the model) that leads to the establishment of a test mark and / or the issuance of a test certificate. It is a series of administrative, visual and technical tests aimed at verifying and confirming that a measuring instrument complies with legal requirements through conformity assessment procedures (with the exception of model evaluation) which include tests and markings. and the issuance of a test certificate that verifies and confirms the measuring instrument. Metrology is the branch of science that deals with measurements, units of measurement and the equipment to perform them, as well as their periodic examination and calibration. It covers the theoretical and practical aspects of the measures and their application in the scientific, industrial and legal fields. Manufactured with standard weights subject to strict control, calibrations performed by certified companies provide you with legal and not only that the scales work with the expected and expected accuracy. In Spain, there are three types of conformity assessment bodies in the field of legal metrology± notified bodies, measurement control bodies and approved metrological testing bodies. Legal metrology is more than a scientific discipline, but a practical field of application in everyday life. Above all, it serves to protect us as consumers. The idea is to make sure that when we go shopping, we pay exactly what we bring home. Virtually all countries offer this protection by including metrology in their legislation, hence the term “legal metrology”.
When we talk about weighing and balancing, especially trade scales, you often mean terms such as metrology, legal metrology, calibration, verification and standard weight. But it`s not always clear what each concept means and what these processes and objects really serve. Legal metrology is the part of metrology (science of measurements) that refers to activities resulting from legal requirements that apply to measurements, units of measurement, measuring instruments and measurement methods performed by competent bodies. With regard to metrological verification requirements, in order to protect the public interest in measuring instruments, the Government, in particular the Ministry of Industry and Trade, must publish a set of standards defining the technical and administrative requirements for measuring instruments subject to legal metrology. It is very important to note that legal metrology affects not only the health sector, but also trade, the daily purchase of goods by weight, the purchase of fuel and the provision of public services in the residential area. Once the device is running, it is necessary to check it regularly or after©repairs or modifications to verify that it continues to measure correctly and that its errors in measurements are less than the maximum allowed errors. If the device passes the check, a “compliant” label will be placed on it, otherwise a red deactivation label for the service will be attached. These methods were discarded because they had many inconsistencies. As different civilizations developed, measurement methods developed further. This area aims to ensure the reliability of measurements that are carried out day after day in the industry.
It applies to: Public administrations are responsible for their designation in their areas of competence and use the ENAC accreditation tool as a guarantee of their technical© competence. Companies are responsible for implementing measurement programs in such a way as to ensure the reliability of the measurements and their results within the required accuracy range. Companies must ensure that the results provided by their measuring instruments are correct when used in key activities such as controlling process variables, ensuring the quality or safety of their products, processes or services, or obtaining the data needed to analyze and make important decisions. Various measuring devices and systems, such as those used in the control of basic services – water, gas and electricity meters or hydrocarbon dispensers©- scales, taximeters, meters of recreational machines, those used in road safety checks used©in technical inspections of vehicles, or kinemometers for speed control – the popular “radar” – or temperature loggers and thermometers that are used, among others, in the transport, storage and distribution of refrigerated food, are subject to this control.