Article written by Peter van Otterloo, Programme Coordinator, Chemical Proficiency Testing Schemes, NMi
Complete article from Edition 28 APG eNewsletter
Brief History
Before 1816, weights and measures in the Netherlands (and also in Europe) were hardly harmonized. Each region or city had its own standards and inspectors to keep an eye to fair trade. Because each region or city had different set of standards, and had there own names for it, the metric system was included in Dutch law. District verification officers were charged with its supervision.
In 1937, the task of verification was defined by the act on weights and measures, which served primarily as a guarantee of honest trading. The Legal Metrology Service (Dienst van het IJkwezen) was established as a part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs to charge with the enforcement of this law. In 1989, due to national policy, the service was privatised, and NMi was established as an independent company.
Besides the legal Metrology service, NMi also maintains the national measurement standards such as mass, length, time, temperature, etc.
Today, NMi is a company with about 200 employees that supports the industry with traceability, calibration services, and supervision of fair trading.
The Chemical Department
In 1978, the Chemical Department was founded for the realisation of primary standards of the mole. The mole is the basic unit for amount of substance measurements. In order to provide traceability in chemical analysis to this basic unit, reference materials are provided where absolute measurements do not exist.
At present, the department focuses on the following topics:
- Supply of Gaseous Primary Reference Materials and Certified Reference Materials for calibration of analysers (monitors) in industrial emissions, workplace atmospheres, air quality, vehicle emissions, toxic gases, and natural gas composition
- Purity analysis of gases
- Development of primary analytical measurement methods for the analysis of metals in various matrices (ICP-MS)
- Supply of Reference Materials and calibration services of electrical conductivity
- Education, training, and consultancy
- Organization of Proficiency Testing Schemes to provide participants with proven accuracy, quality, and traceability
To learn more about NMi, you can visit its website at http://www.NMi.nl
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