Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM)

Purpose

In collaboration with National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) worldwide, including NRC, the BIPM fulfills its mandate of providing the basis for a single, coherent system of measurements throughout the world, traceable to the International System of Units (SI). This mandate is carried out through a series of consultative committees whose members are the national metrology laboratories of the Member States, and through the BIPM’s own laboratory work, which includes carrying out measurement-related research and calibrations in selected areas for some Member States, depending on the technical sophistication of their NMIs. National Metrology Institutes then disseminate measurement standards through calibration services to national scientific, industrial, commercial, and public sector users.