2012 Award:
Loukoumanou Osséni

At the 47th CIML Meeting in Bucharest, Romania, the fourth OIML Award for Excellent Achievements in Legal Metrology in Developing Countries was awarded to Mr Loukoumanou Osséni, General Director of the Agence Béninoise de Métrologie et de Gestion de la Qualité (Beninese Agency for Metrology and Quality Management) in Bénin.

Ian Dunmill, BIML Assistant Director, detailed some of the achievements which had led to Mr. Osséni’s nomination for this award.  He had been responsible for the development of a three year training schedule for some Beninese engineers in France, and had conceived and developed five sketches for awareness raising of metrology in his country. These sketches were presented to the public on suitable occasions to inform them of the value of legal metrology. Mr. Osséni had also developed a documentary on metrology activities which had been for television programs, as well as a number of other interactive television activities on metrology. It was due to his initiative that there was a website for his Agency concerning all the activities. There was also a “Metrology Fortnight” once a year in Benin, where there were again awareness raising activities for the public, for people in industry, for people in small businesses and amongst political decision makers. Mr. Osséni had ensured that his laboratory had received accreditation for mass, which made it the only public calibration institute in that French speaking part of West Africa. He had also developed training within their agency for people from surrounding countries. As an expert in legal metrology, he had even been sent by his government to Haiti in 2005, following the problems they had had there, as a consultant in developing legal metrology in that country.

In conclusion, Mr. Dunmill said, it could be seen that Mr. Osséni had had a number of personal activities to improve the awareness of metrology in his own country in quite innovative ways. Although some of these could be seen to be part of his job as the head of his national metrology body, he had used a lot of his own personal enthusiasm and drive to get this work in place to raise awareness. The fact that he had also used World Metrology Day as a catalyst for some of his local events linked the activities in his small country into those at an international level. It was therefore felt that his work had made many excellent contributions to legal metrology, which benefited not only his own country but others in the West African region as well.

Mr Osséni was later presented with his award at the BIML.

Mr. Loukoumanu Osséni and his wife Aminata pictured at the BIML on 10 January 2013

2011 Award:
José Antonio Dajes and Juan Carlos Castillo

At the 46th CIML Meeting in Prague, Czech Republic in October 2011 CIML President Peter Mason made awards to two individuals in the context of the third OIML Award for Excellent Achievements in Legal Metrology in Developing Countries.

José Dajes is Head of the National Metrology Service at INDECOPI - Peru. Juan Carlos Castillo is Executive Director at IBMETRO - Bolivia.

In recognition of their work at their respective National Institutes, Dr. Eberhard Seiler nominated them to receive the 2011 Award.

During the SIM General Assembly in November 2011, the BIML presented special trophies and certificates to José Dajes and Juan Carlos Castillo.

The OIML extends its deep appreciation to the 2011 Award Winners for their excellent work in legal metrology and wishes them every continued success in their future projects.

José Dajes

Juan Carlos Castillo

2010 Award:
Thai Legal Metrology Service

On the occasion of the 45th CIML Meeting in Orlando, CIML President Mr. Alan Johnston announced the winner of the second OIML Award for Excellent Achievements in Legal Metrology in Developing Countries.

Eberhard Seiler, OIML Facilitator for Developing Country Matters, had proposed that Thai Legal Metrology Service be nominated for the 2010 Award because of the continuous efforts by the regulatory authority (Department of Internal Trade, DIT) and also the Central Bureau of Weights and Measures, CBWM (as executing agency) to develop legal metrology.

Thailand now has three Regional Verification Offices, and a fourth is due to open at the end of 2010; verification activities are continually being expanded with about two to three million verifications being carried out across the country every year.

Regular training is provided for verification inspectors on verification of measuring instruments, calibration of measuring instruments, checking the net content of prepacked goods, inspection, and legislation.

Thailand has also participated in a number of training courses and workshops in cooperation with the APLMF, the most recent of which was on software controlled measuring instruments in Bangkok this year.

The following table gives an overview of legal metrology activities in Thailand:

* In 2009, designated manufacturers also verified over 850 000 water meters and thousands of spring scales and fuel dispensers

Verification of weighing bridges in Thailand

2009 Award:
Osama Melhem

During the 44th CIML Meeting in Mombasa, CIML President Mr. Alan Johnston announced the winner of the first OIML Award for Excellent Achievements in Legal Metrology in Developing Countries.

The President handed over a special certificate to the winner, Eng. Osama Melhem, Director of the Metrology Department of the Jordanian Institution for Standardization and Metrology, for his outstanding contributions to the organization of metrology in Jordan and the development of legal metrology in particular.

As part of the Award ceremony Eberhard Seiler, OIML Facilitator for Developing Country Matters, explained the facts on which this decision was based. The examples he mentioned clearly showed the benefits for consumers and the contributions to fair trade in Jordan. Some of the methods are most certainly of interest to other legal metrology services, which could in turn benefit from the Jordanian experience.

The Facilitator referred to the April 2009 issue of the OIML Bulletin in which an illustrated description was published of the current situation of metrology in Jordan.

An additional project of special interest to Arabic speaking countries (and indeed regional cooperation in general) was his translation of various OIML Publications into Arabic, including the International Vocabulary of Legal Metrology and the brochure on the International System of Units, printed by the Jordanian Institution. The BIML has made these translations freely available on its Developing Countries web site.

In his words of thanks Mr. Melhem stressed the fact that the progress his country had made in legal metrology over recent years would not have been possible without the extraordinary commitment of his collaborators, who therefore also had their share in this Award.

Besides the special certificate, the Award also includes participation in an international metrology event, chosen by the winner and financed by the OIML as a mark of appreciation.

At the end of the Award ceremony the Facilitator lauded the high standard set by the first winner. He expressed his expectation that the Award will encourage others to strengthen their activities in legal metrology and called for applications for the 2010 Award.

Article by Eberhard Seiler (pictured left)
with Osama Melhem (center)
and Alan Johnston (right)