Calibration certificates issued by the Namibian Standards Institution (NSI) in the area of mass are now recognised and accepted by the international community. This comes after the institution published Namibia’s first Calibration and Measurement Capabilities (CMCs) in the field of Mass Metrology on the International Bureau of Weights and Measures - Key Comparisons Database (BIPM -KCDB).
The publication of CMCs is done in various metrology fields which include Mass Metrology, Temperature Metrology, Length Metrology; Time and Frequency as well as Electricity and Magnetism, amongst others.
Namibia becomes the sixth African country overall to publish CMCs after Egypt, South Africa, Kenya; Tunisia and Zimbabwe and the third African country to publish CMCs in the field of Mass Metrology. Within the SADC region Namibia is the third country to publish CMCs overall and the second SADC country to publish CMCs in the field of mass.
The NSI’s CEO, Chie Wasserfall, said this wonderful milestone is not only for the NSI but Namibia as a whole. “On top of our mass laboratories being accredited, we have gone the extra mile to publish our capabilities to the international community; I wish to congratulate the team for this magnificent achievement,” said Wasserfall.
The CMC publication process involves review and approval by all other regional metrology organisations from all over the world. The regional metrology organisations network consists of six bodies, namely AFRIMETS, representing countries from Africa; EURAMET, representing European countries; APMP, representing countries in Asia and the Pacific; COOMET, representing the Euro-Asian countries; GULFMET, representing the Gulf nations; and SIM, representing the American countries.
Metrology, the science of measurement, is at the core of the national quality infrastructure, which is the centre of the national measurement system. Every process or service, for which a decision has to be made based on a measurement, must be supported by a sound metrology infrastructure.
The NSI serves as the national metrology institute and legal metrology authority responsible for the establishment and maintenance of the national measurement system as well the administration and enforcement of the Trade Metrology Act No. 77 of 1973 as amended. The metrology department is accredited by the Southern African Development Community Accreditation Services (SADCAS) for mass, volume, and is recommended for accreditation for temperature metrology services. The metrology customers range from the wholesale and retail sector; transport sector; pharmaceutical and medical and regulatory industries; fishing industry, other food industries, testing and calibration laboratories, and equipment suppliers.