Legal metrology and principal mission of SLM

The metrology is involved in measurement, units of measurement, methods and means of measurement, as well as in principals of measurements results processing, in order to assure the uniformity and correctness of measurements in various fields of human activities. The legal metrology concerns the measurements that have an influence on transparency of business transactions, consumer’s protection, and protection of health, safety, environment, or law enforcement.

The etymology of the word “legal” originates in the French word “légale”, that means “lawful, juridical”. The legal metrology covers all the activities stipulated by legal rules and related with measurements, units of measurement, measuring instruments and methods of measurement. These activities are executed either by the state institutions, or by the state entrusted bodies. They are aimed to assure the credibility of the measurement results in the state regulated sphere. That is why the word “legal” is inherent also in the very name of Slovak Legal Metrology, n.o., as it is the organization charged with the metrological control in compliance with Law on metrology.

The current position of SLM in the Slovak metrological infrastructure and its principal tasks result out of the SLM´s statute of a non-profit organisation and out of Slovak Office of Standards, Metrology and Testing Decision No 2005/000557/00357 on the designation of SLM for the execution of the metrological control of measuring instruments and for other activities resulting out of the § 9, clause 5 of Act No 157/2019 Coll. (Law on metrology) and of some acts as later amended and supplemented. In compliance with the above mentioned documents, SLM is developing its activities in the following fields:

• transfer of units and scale values from national standards to standards used for verification and calibration of measuring instruments,
• verification of legally controlled measuring instruments according to § 9 of Law of metrology,
• assessment of applicant’s competencies for activities that are subject of authorization, including the supervision of the applicant and inspections in his premises,
• review of the fulfilment of registration requirements by entrepreneurs,
• technical examinations of measuring instruments samples for the type approval purposes,
• official measurements,
• services in the field of measuring instruments calibration,
• personal dosimetry,
• measurements and checking of products quantities in the “e” marked pre-packages,
• metrological expertises,
• training and professional activities,
• testing the products (measuring instruments),
• coordination of proficiency testing of laboratories (interlaboratory comparison measurements),
• products (measuring instruments) certification,
• surveillance of the production quality systems,
• research and development in the field of metrology and their application in praxis,
• publishing and edition activities.

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