Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio

The Research Directorate for the Verification and the Control of Technical Regulation and Legal Metrology of the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) of Colombia, held an online conference called New Approach to Metrological Control in Colombia for Latin-American and Caribbean authorities, on July 31, 2018. 

Around 50 participants attended this Conference, including representatives of the Uruguayan Technological Laboratory (LATU), members of the Costar Rican Laboratory of Metrology (LACOMET), the Legal Metrology Director of the Ecuadorian Institute of Standardization (INEN), representatives of the INEN Regional Office for Azuay Area, members of the INEN Regional Office for Guayas Area, members of the metrological control authority of Bolivia, one representative of the National Metrology Center of Panama (CENAPEM), the Legal Metrology Coordinator of the National Institute of Technology (INTI) of Argentina, members of the legal metrology department of Chile, among others. 

During this online conference, first, the Legal Metrology Group explained the regulation structure in Colombia in the field of legal metrology. Hence, it addressed the four technical regulations for non-automatic weighing instruments; spouts, dispensers, and/or gauges of fuel; breathalyzers and ethylometers; and measurement instruments. Likewise, the Group also mentioned the draft regulations on active electrical energy meters, and on potable water meters. 

Second, the Group discussed the metrological control phases. Thus, it explained the conformity assessment period where responsibility relies on producers or importers, who in turn must present a production quality assurance. In addition, the Group described the conformity assessment phase from other certification parties, where responsibility relies on the certification holder. In this part, the Group addressed the topic of the Authorized Metrological Verification Organizations (OAVM, in its Spanish acronym) which must perform functions of regularization, periodical verification, repair, and verification after repair. 

Third, the Group deepened the topic of OAVM, explaining that these organizations launched in 2018 are private and have permission to perform their functions for 10 years, in Colombia. Thus, the Group exposed the Colombian case, stating that there exist currently two OAVMs in the market, namely: on the one hand, METROLEGAL COLOMBIA UT, in charge of verifying truck scales, and on the other, CONSORCIO DE VERIFICACIÓN METROLÓGICA (CVM), responsible of verifying fuel spots and non-automatic weighing instruments all over the country. These two companies were requested, as part of their functions, to conduct a national census to identify all the measurement instruments in the country, which should be registered in the Legal Metrology Information System (SIMEL, in its Spanish acronym). 

Finally, the Group explained SIMEL’s functions, and the type of information that users could find in the system, including importers, producers, instrument holders, OAVMs, and repairers. 

The Conference ended with an invitation from the Research Directorate for the Verification and the Control of Technical Regulation and Legal Metrology to keep in contact with counterparts, as well as, to share experiences with the international pairs in the field of legal metrology in the future.