Under the slogan "We measure today for a sustainable tomorrow", World Metrology Day is celebrated on May 20, which, on this occasion, draws attention to Metrology being a fundamental tool to ensure accurate, reliable and comparable measurements used in key activities such as product quality assurance or process, product, or service safety in a context where society is facing increasingly urgent challenges related to climate change, managing resources or reducing pollution. Therefore, strict control of measurement equipment is necessary, including proper use and maintenance, and a calibration plan that guarantees its metrological traceability in necessary cases.

For measurements to be consistent and comparable anywhere in the world, it is essential that all measurement instruments used are compared with more accurate instruments or standards until international reference standards are reached. The process that guarantees the comparability of these measurements is called metrological traceability, accredited calibration laboratories are fundamental because they are responsible for transferring that traceability to each instrument they calibrate.

Accredited calibration laboratories, as they comply with the ISO/IEC 17025 standard, and have been assessed by an independent third party, guarantee that they have qualified, experienced personnel and the necessary and appropriate equipment and infrastructures to carry out their activity, ensuring the traceability of calibrations to national or international standards, by applying appropriate calibration methods and procedures, and employing techniques to ensure the validity of the results.

Currently, Spanish companies and society have a network of more than 160 ENAC-accredited calibration laboratories whose services play an essential role in the market by guaranteeing the results provided by their measuring equipment: from component design and manufacturing, which require adaptation to standards; to logistics services, where magnitudes are an essential factor in providing the service, among other examples.

 

Legal metrology: veracity of measurements

An essential activity in the metrology field is legal metrology (or State legal metrological control), a fundamental activity for maintaining trade with guarantees, quality, and insurance. It benefits both the companies themselves and the citizens since it is responsible for ensuring the veracity of measurements carried out by equipment or measurement systems that may influence the transparency of commercial transactions or that are used for measurements affecting the environment, such as electricity, gas, water meters, petrol pumps, sound level meters to measure environmental noise, ethylometers, kinemometers (radars) or temperature recorders to ensure the cold chain is maintained when transporting and preserving food, among other examples.

This equipment is subject to controls before it goes to market and to periodic controls carried out by ENAC-accredited bodies in the legal metrology field (notified bodies, metrological control bodies and authorized metrological inspection bodies).

Currently, the Spanish market has more than 100 accreditations in the legal metrology field, providing maximum guarantees to the equipment or that measurement systems work correctly, which may influence consumers' and users' health and safety, as well as the environment.