Federal Institute for Metrology

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The Federal Institute of Metrology METAS ( French Institut fédéral de métrologie METAS , Italian Istituto federale di metrologia METAS , Rhaeto-Romanic Institut federal da metrologia METAS ) is a public-law institution of the Swiss Confederation . It is the Swiss counterpart to the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in the Federal Republic of Germany and to the Federal Office for Metrology and Surveying in the Republic of Austria . The institute has its own legal personality and is entered in the commercial register. It is independent in its organization and management and keeps its own accounts. METAS is based in Wabern . METAS is organizationally assigned to the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) and consists of the three organs of the Institute Council, Management and Auditors. METAS can delegate parts of its tasks to designated institutes. Philippe Richard has been the director of METAS since June 2016.

Headquarters in Wabern in late autumn

history

In 1862, the Federal Verification Center was founded in Bern. In 1909 it became the Federal Office for Weights and Measures and in 1914 moved from Bern city center to a new building in the Kirchenfeld district, before moving its headquarters to its current location in 1965. In 1977 the area of ​​responsibility was massively expanded and the organization became the Federal Office for Metrology (EAM).

On January 1, 2001, the office became the Federal Office for Metrology and Accreditation and has since been known as METAS in all languages, even after it became legally independent in 2013 . In 2005, the name of the Federal Office was shortened to Federal Office of Metrology METAS because the Swiss Accreditation Body was transferred to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs . Even after this transfer was the name METAS ( Met meteorology and A ccreditation S witzerland), which is also a registered trademark in the Swiss registration mark is received. The next comprehensive reform was implemented at the beginning of 2013. The Federal Office was converted into an independent public-law institution and has since been operating as the Federal Institute for Metrology .

Legal basis

The standardization of the masses is one of the oldest tasks of the modern Swiss federal state and was anchored in the first federal constitution of 1848. Today, Article 125 of the current federal constitution forms the basis for the relevant federal competencies. The article reads simply: Legislation on metrology is a federal matter. On this basis, the Federal Assembly has the current 2011 Federal Law on Metrology (short measuring Act adopted). This law is a total revision of a law with the same title from 1977. In addition, matters relating to the determination of the official time are regulated in the new measurement law; Before that there was a separate law ( time law ) from 1980, which was repealed with the total revision of the measurement law in 2011. The Federal Institute for Metrology is expressly mentioned in Articles 17 - 19 and 24 of this Act. Also in 2011, in connection with the legal independence of the former Federal Office, a separate federal law was created on the Federal Institute for Metrology , which forms the organizational legal basis of the institute. On metrology, there are also a large number of ordinances below the statutory level that the Federal Council or the FDJP have issued.

The Measurement Act also clarifies the delimitation of competences between the Confederation and the cantons . The cantonal verification offices are responsible for checking the quantities and checking the measurement stability as well as the subsequent control of length measuring devices, spatial dimensions, weights, scales, measuring systems for liquids except water and exhaust gas measuring devices for combustion engines. All other competencies lie with METAS, which in turn can call in verification bodies.

tasks

Calibration center for hydrometric measuring devices at METAS in Ittigen

METAS is the national metrology institute in Switzerland. For Switzerland, it carries out the tasks related to metrology and neighboring areas, as assigned to it in the relevant federal law. It provides internationally recognized units of measurement with the required accuracy and compares the standards at certain time intervals with those of other national metrology institutes or comparable institutions. The institute also ensures the traceability of the norms of the cantonal enforcement bodies. Finally, there are units of measurement through calibrations and reference materials .

In addition, the institute carries out scientific and technical investigations and development work in metrology and, in particular, researches the effects of new technologies and develops applicable measurement methods that correspond to the state of scientific knowledge.

Finally, METAS advises the federal authorities on all questions relating to metrology and participates in the preparation of decrees in the area of ​​metrology. Switzerland is also represented in international metrology organizations via METAS. The institute represents Switzerland at the General Conference for Weights and Measures according to the contract of May 20, 1875 regarding the establishment of an international office for measures and weights ( meter contract ) and in the committee of the International Organization for Legal Metrology according to the Convention of October 12 1955 for the establishment of an international organization for legal metrology.

METAS continues to spread the legal time in Switzerland. This competence was originally regulated in a separate law, the Time Act, which was enacted in 1980 due to the then politically very controversial introduction of summer time in Switzerland. Since then, Central European Time ( CET) has been in effect in Switzerland and Central European Summer Time ( CEST) in summer . The legal time in Switzerland is therefore CET = UTC + 1 h and in summer CEST = UTC + 2 h.

METAS atomic clock FOCS-1

The Laboratory for Photonics, Time and Frequency at METAS operates several atomic clocks that serve as frequency standards and time standards . With this, the Swiss atomic time TAI (CH) is kept and the Swiss world time UTC (CH) is calculated. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) calculates the International Atomic Time TAI and the Coordinated Universal Time UTC from this, together with data from many other institutes . The Photonics, Time and Frequency Laboratory provides the legal time with various time transmission services: A website allows the PC time to be compared with Swiss time. The Stratum 1 NTP servers ntp11.metas.ch and ntp12.metas.ch are available on the Internet for reference customers. A public Stratum 2 NTP server is available at ntp.metas.ch . The time servers get their time from atomic clocks and have the refid .HBGi. based on the time signal transmitter.

Finally, there are certain special tasks of the institute: The maintenance of the hydrological monitoring network in Switzerland for the Federal Office for the Environment is carried out by METAS. Finally, METAS operates an alcohol analysis laboratory for the Federal Alcohol Administration .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Commercial Register of the Canton of Bern. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 12, 2013 ; Retrieved November 10, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / be.powernet.ch
  2. ↑ Federal Act on the Federal Institute of Metrology, Article 1. Accessed on November 10, 2013 .
  3. ↑ Federal Act on the Federal Institute for Metrology, Article 5. Accessed on November 10, 2013 .
  4. ^ FDJP - Council of the Federal Institute for Metrology. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 10, 2013 ; Retrieved November 10, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.admin.ch
  5. ↑ METAS management. Retrieved November 10, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Federal Act on the Federal Institute of Metrology, Article 4. Accessed on November 10, 2013 .
  7. ↑ Ordinance on the Federal Institute for Metrology, Article 4. Accessed on November 10, 2013 .
  8. ↑ Wolfgang Schwitz: METAS in Wabern: Metrological Reference Center of Switzerland ( MS Word ; 241 kB) , lecture, metas.ch, accessed on February 24, 2013
  9. ↑ Christian Antener: EAM changes its name to Metrology and Accreditation Switzerland (metas) , metas.ch, press release, December 4, 2000, accessed on February 24, 2013
  10. ^ Press release of the FDJP of December 21, 2005. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 10, 2013 ; Retrieved November 10, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ejpd.admin.ch
  11. ↑ Entry of the METAS brand in the Swissreg database of the Federal Institute for Intellectual Property. Retrieved November 10, 2013 .
  12. ↑ Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation, Article 125. Accessed on November 10, 2013 .
  13. ^ Federal law on metrology. Retrieved November 10, 2013 .
  14. ↑ Overview of federal decrees on measures and weights (area 941.2 of the systematic collection of laws of the federal government). Retrieved November 10, 2013 .
  15. ↑ Federal Law on Metrology, Article 16. Accessed November 10, 2013 .
  16. ↑ Ordinance on the Federal Institute for Metrology, Article 2. Accessed on November 10, 2013 .
  17. ↑ Ordinance on the Federal Institute for Metrology, Article 3. Accessed on November 10, 2013 .