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Meeting

 

December 12-14, 2001 Miami, United States

Final Minutes

 

AGENDA

 

1. Accreditation of Delegates
2. Verification of Quorum
3. Approval of the Agenda
4. Welcome from the Acting Director of NIST, Karen Brown
5. Approval of the Minutes from the Previous General Assembly
6. Ratification of Council Resolutions
7. Report from SIM President, Felipe Urresta
8. Report from Executive Secretary, Oscar Harasic
9. Report from Professional Development Committee, Yoshito Mitani
10. Report from Technical Committee, Steve Carpenter
11. Report from SIM Representative to the JCRB, Ismael Castelazzo
12. Presentation of SIM/OAS Project for 2002, Oscar Harasic
13. Presentation of SIM/IDB Project, Armando Mariante Carvalho
14. Discussion and voting of changes to the SIM statutes and bylaws
15. Presentation of SIM Web site, Josefa Paredes Villalobos
16. Break-up for parallel sub-regional meetings
- Discussion of sub-regional needs
- Discussion of sub-regional calendar
- Discussion of role of CIPM and BIPM for developing countries
- Discussion and preparation of sub regional reports
- Other business
17. Presentation of Sub-regional Reports
18. Presentation of other Organizations attending the Assembly
19. Creation of ad hoc group to prepare document of role of CIPM and BIPM for developing countries
20. Other Business
21. Meeting Calendar and next General Assembly
22. Closing Session

1. Accreditation of Delegates
Welcome from the President
VII General Assembly.

 

2. Verification of Quorum
25 out of 34 members are present, quorum is established.

 

3. Approval of the Agenda
With no comments the agenda was approved

 

4. Welcome from the Acting Director of NIST, Karen Brown
On behalf of Dr. Karen Brown, Steve Carpenter welcomed all participants.
Felipe Urresta presented a plaque from SIM to NIST, in of commemoration NIST centennial.

 

5. Approval of the Minutes from the Previous General Assembly
The delegate from USA moved to approve the minutes.
The minutes are approved with no comments

Resolution GA01/02: The minutes from the GA meeting held in Ocho Rios Jamaica in 2000 are approved with no comments.

Before the assembly formally started, SIM President remembered the attack of September 11 against the United States remarking that the attack was not only to the United States, but also against all the cultural and moral values in the hemisphere. After his words, all the participants joined in a minute of silence in honor to the victims of September 11.

 

6. Ratification of Council Resolutions

7. Report from SIM President, Felipe Urresta
The Report from the president is included in the GA Workbook.

Besides the formal report, SIM President made some remarks, which are summarized, in the following paragraphs.
"You can all read my report from the workbook, so I would like to say some words remarking the importance of SIM for the region and the need we have to continue working all together, small and big countries looking for solutions for our problems and for the region.
The problems of new markets and commerce in this world of today are the reason for the existence of SIM. We are not dreaming with fairies, but working hard looking for real solutions for the problems in each of our countries.
This week we had three seminars and now we are starting the General Assembly meeting, in which we are going to ratify our wish to work for the well being of our region and reinforce our partnership and the feelings of solidarity among the countries.
SIM must be the support for measurements for our future in ALCA. But not only in ALCA. We must be able to provide measurement systems compatible with the world, participating actively with the BIPM and the CIPM.
We must work together with other RMOs for recognizing and being recognized. For the first time in our GA meetings we have a delegate from EUROMET and we thank him for his presence.
This last year we had a lot of Metrology related events, NIST centennial, seminars in CENAM, NCSL, INEN, etc, and the events we had this week had being a great corollary for this year.
As Hratch (Semerjian) said: "Except for a few bumps, 2001 has been a very good year".
I hope that in 2002 we will have more metrology related events, more active participation, with metrology coming out of the laboratories and taking part in trade and commerce.
We are also working to find more training opportunities. In this sense we are working in a scholarship program, which we hope, will give the opportunity of training and specialization to many young metrologist of the region.
I would also like to remark the long cooperation between PTB and many of the
SIM members, and the need to establish some coordinated actions between PTB and SIM.
Finally I would like to thank Ed Nemeroff from the NCSLI for all his work helping us in the organization of this event. This is what I had in my mind and in my heart to tell you. Thank you very much. "

 

8. Report from Executive Secretary, Oscar Harasic
The report is included in the workbook.

 

9. Report from Professional Development Committee, Yoshito Mitani
The report is included in the Workbook.

 

10. Report from Technical Committee, Steve Carpenter
Report is annexed.

 

11. Report from SIM Representative to the JCRB, Ismael Castelazzo
Report is annexed.
Ismael Castelazo, informed that SIM has two new signatories of the MRA, Chile and Ecuador.
He made some remark about the Measurements capabilities presented by MWGs of SIM. Even though the JCRB put comparisons as one of the issues to support the capabilities, all the MWG took the safe way and were presented only those capabilities supported by comparisons.

He also informed about the Quality Systems issue in the JCRB. This issue is considered of importance in the JCRB, but the arrangement does not give specifications for the QS. The RMOs are asking for guidelines for the characteristics of the QS. For this task, an ad-hoc group was created in the JCRB, chaired by Wolfgang Schmidt, and with the participation of Hratch Semerjian representing SIM.

The calendar of JCRB activities for 2002 was presented.
Next JCRB meeting will be held in March in South Africa. In the agenda are the approval of measurement capabilities in Temperature, Length, Mass and related quantities.
In October, Time and Frequency.
Finally it was also remarked the importance starting an active work in the QSWG in SIM, who will have the task of reporting to the JCRB the status of the QS of SIM signatories.

 

12. Presentation of SIM/OAS Project for 2002, Oscar Harasic
Oscar Harasic gave the floor to Steve Carpenter who presented the project.
The text of the project is included in the Workbook.
The project was approved but the budget was reduced from 250 000 to 180 000.
It was informed that the US mission will make up the difference so the total budget will be 250 000.
Even though the project had the highest rating for participation, the budget was reduced because of the low number of letters of support received by the AICD.
The project was approved for 4 years, but the budget is approved on a yearly basis.
So all members are encouraged to send letters of support, as soon as possible because this is the 2nd year of a 5-year project.

13. Presentation of SIM/IDB Project, Armando Mariante Carvalho
The delegate from Brazil informed that the project is now under revision by an ad hoc working group of SIM.

 

14. Discussion and voting of changes to the SIM statutes and bylaws

Luis Mussio presented the proposals of changes in the Statute.
Articles 6.1 y 6.2- after some discussions it was decided to keep the original text, changing the term from 2 to 3 years. It was noted by many representatives that in this way there is a certain compromise of all members to rotate in the different SIM positions thus increasing participation.

Article 6.6. SIM representative to the JCRB
Raul Núñez asked if the reference in 6.6.1 corresponds to full member only or if it can be associate member.
Ismael Castelazo informs that the MRA has no restriction for the RMOs representatives to the JCRB. The Terms of Reference don't have any restrictions either, it is not necessary to be from of a CIPM member.
Joaquin Valdes proposed to put the restriction for the SIM representative to the JCRB (must be a full member of the CIPM).
Hector Nava remarked that there couldn't be mention to associate members in the JCRB terms of reference because these are previous to the creation of this category. Proposed to keep the text in which no restrictions are established.
Hratch Semerjian also supports this position and proposes to vote.
Ismael Castelazo remarked that the representative is not to the BIPM but from SIM to the JCRB so there would be no problem with the CIPM membership.
The proposal is voted and approved unanimously.

Article 8.2. Hratch Semerjian proposed to make it consistent with article 6.2, 3 years and a second consecutive term.
The same is suggested for article 9.2 d.

Hector Nava proposed to put the same restrictions to the JCRB representative, 3 years and a second consecutive term.

Dianne Lalla noted that "second consecutive term" may mean 9 years, "one consecutive term" would mean 6 years. After some discussion, it was proposed: "second consecutive term (6 consecutive years)".

Articles 8.2 and 9.2 are approved unanimously.

Articles 10.4.c, 10.4.d, 10.4.1, 10.5 and 10.5.1 are approved unanimously

Articles 10.6 and 10.6.1. After a discussion on the tasks and responsibilities for the QS WG, and its relation with Documentation the following text is proposed:
Article 10.6.- It is the responsibility of the Documents Working Groups to:

a) prepare, review and, when necessary, propose to modify the SIM Statute, the Rules of Order, and Terms of Reference and other general documents to promote the efficient and effective operation of SIM,
b) to establish a data base with the purpose of documenting and disseminating the results of the comparisons organized by the MGWs
c) to promote the implementation of quality systems in SIM-Member laboratories, in accordance with the requirements of the CIPM MRA.

Article 10.6.1.- DWGs are organized as follows:

DWG1- Bylaws and operations
DWG2- DataBase
DWG3- Quality Systems

This text is approved unanimously.

Joaquin Valdes proposed a change for article 1.
Where it says: "also in 1992 OAS." should say "also in 1992 during a SIM Assembly meeting held in Buenos Aires"

The modification is approved unanimously.

The final text of the statutes is presented in annex 2, of these minutes.

Resolution GA02/02: The new statutes are approved. The final approved text will be circulated among the members and posted in the SIM web site.

 

15. Presentation of SIM Web site, Josefa Paredes Villalobos

The new SIM web site was presented briefly by Josefa Paredes on behalf of the Secretariat, showing all the new pages and specially the forums. Unfortunately due to the lack of connection to the Internet, it was not possible to show the forums in full detail.
Even though this problem, the members were encouraged to make use of the forums as a tool to increase the participation in SIM activities.

 

16. Break-up for parallel sub-regional meetings

The meeting was adjourned and the delegates met for the preparation of subregional reports.

2nd day

 

17. Presentation of Sub-regional Reports

Before the presentation of the subregional reports, it was discussed the approval of the President, Executive Secretary, TC and PDC reports.
The delegate from Saint Lucia wants to make a change in the report of the strengths of the countries for her Country, from agriculture to Tourism.
Also ask for information about which were the letters of support received by the agency because Saint Lucia sent the letter but did not get any feed back.

Hratch Semerjian complained about the short time had for analyzing the documents.

It is proposed that the Secretary sends the documents by mail prior to the meeting or post them in the Web Site.

With no other comments the reports are approved.

Resolution GA 03/02: The reports from the President, Executive Secretary, TC coordinator, PDC coordinator and JCRB representative are approved.

The Subregional reports were presented by the subregional coordinators and are annexed to these minutes.

 

18. Presentation of other Organizations attending the Assembly
Dr. Wolfgang Schwitz from Swiss Federal Office of Metrology and Accreditation, Euromet Chairman, made a presentation on EUROMET. His presentation is annexed to these minutes.

Dr. Jean-François Magaña , chairman of OIML made a presentation showing the activities and news from OIML.
A short summary of the topics is presented:
- The OIML MRA, similar to the CIPM MRA based on instruments that will allow exchanging of pattern approval tests.
- The importance of labeling for prepackages international marking in development.
- The development of conformity marking for individual measuring instruments. Sort of initial verification mark.
- The role of OIML and the WTO.
- Finally, the importance of regional work in OIML, to develop information and confidence at international level. It is also at regional level that discussion and comparisons can be done. Regional level is more adapted for this. Also is better for training courses.

 

19. Creation of ad hoc group to prepare document of role of CIPM and BIPM for developing countries

Ismael Castelazo made a brief presentation showing how the BIPM has changed, having originally the commitment of guardian of international standards prototypes from which today only remains the mass standard.
BIPM today has many more activities and the MRA gives the opportunity to make a revision on the duties of the BIPM, and its relation with the developing countries.
The Director of the BIPM is limited by the original documents of the treaty and its 1921 modifications, so now there is the possibility to propose modifications to these documents. Ismael Castelazo takes the compromise of sending the documents to the SIM members.
Joaquin Valdes recommends to visit the BIPM web site where all these documents and much more information is available www.bipm.fr.

There is a committee chaired by Robert Kaarls that is making a survey that was sent to all members of the Convention.

Hector Nava proposed to distribute the questionnaire to all SIM members.

Hratch Semerjian gave his opinion about how the role of the BIPM has changed in the past 125 years, with the changes in technology and metrology.
"The MRA has created a much different role for the BIPM which is much more important than the old role of providing standards.
The coordination role should become the lead role and not providing primary standards. This is important because the research programs need a lot of resources and this make difficult to small economies to become members.
This questionnaire is very much important I agree with Hector in the distribution to all members".

Joaquin Valdes noted that all this problems are permanently discussed in the CIPM where SIM has 4 representatives.

After some fruitful discussions it was proposed to commit the Council to prepare a SIM proposal and send it to Dr. Kaarls.

Resolution GA04/02: Taking in consideration the positions expressed during the GA meeting, the Council is committed to prepare a proposal with SIM opinion on the role of the BIPM and send it to the BIPM ad-hoc group chair, Dr. Roberts Kaarls.

 

20. Other Business

Joaquin Valdez announced the retirement of one of the vice-presidents of the CIPM. For this position of Vice-President was elected Dr. Giorgi Moscati.

Resolution GA05/02: SIM congratulates Dr. Giorgi Moscati for his election as Vice President of the CIPM.
The Presidency of SIM will send a formal letter to Dr. Moscati with this resolution.

 

21. Meeting Calendar and next General Assembly

On behalf of the Directive Council of the INN, Raul Nunez offered to hold the 2002 GA Meeting in Chile.
Maria Milagros Toro, on behalf of SANAMET offered Venezuela to held the 2002 GA Meeting.

The proposal of Chile is supported by the coordination of Suramet as a regional proposal.

The delegate from Panama also offered to hold the meeting but due to a previous agreement with Chile, Panama offers to held the 2003 meeting.

Both the delegates from Panama and Venezuela indicated the importance of having a SIM meeting in their countries, supporting the development of their metrological systems.

After some discussion the following resolution is taken.

Resolution GA06/02: The 2002 GA meeting will be held in Chile, during the week of September 22 to 28, with the compromise of holding a metrology related seminar in Venezuela during 2002.

The delegation from Venezuela will send to the Secretary a list of possible topics for the seminar. Some possible topics were mentioned:
Quality systems and CMCs
Metrology and decision-making.
Global climate changes.
Nutriaceuticals and herbal supplements.

Resolution GA07/02: The 2003 GA Meeting will be hosted by Panama and the 2004 GA Meeting will be hosted by Venezuela. The dates will be defined in the 2002 GA Meeting.

 

22. Closing Session

Felipe Urresta thanked the presence of delegations from 25 members.
He thanked the lecturers for the participation in the seminars, for sharing their time and knowledge.
To Cesar Luiz da Silva and Henri Operman for the organization of the Legal Metrology Seminar.
To Steve Carpenter, Willie May, and Janusz Lusztyk for the GMO seminar.
To all tose who helped in the organization and a special remark to the job done by Joy Brooks. (applauses)
To Ed Nemeroff and on his behalf to all the companies that were present during this week (applauses)
To the coordinators of the permanent committees, Yoshito Mitani and Steve Carpenter who leaves his position as TC coordinator. (Applauses)
To Lea Contier de Freitas for his outstanding job in the SIM secretariat. (Applauses)

SIM says "good bye" to Roosevelt da Costa who retired from the JBS (applauses) and thanked him for his job in the SIM Council.
To the representatives from EUROMET and OIML.
To the NMIs who shared the infrastructure, and specially expertise for hosting SIM activities (applauses)
To the OAS and particularly to Oscar Harasic, who is a permanently cooperating with SIM.
To all the Council members for their help during this meeting, and during the council meetings.
Especially to Josefa Pareded Villalobos (Pepita) who has done an outstanding job in the preparation and implementation of the SIM web site.

Finally, a Happy Birthday to NIST for its Centenal. A presentation was made and a plaque of congratulation was given to Steve Carpenter who was representing the Institute.

Steve Carpenter, thanked all the delegations for letting NIST be the host, and wished everyone a safe travel back home.

The meeting is closed, and the Presidency made wishes for a Happy New Year and 2002 full of prosperity for everyone.

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