SIM INTERAMERICAN METROLOGY SYSTEM
SIM Council Meeting
Miami, 8th December 2001

DRAFT MINUTES

Attendance list
Council Members
Felipe Urresta, SIM President (INEN)
Oscar Harasic, SIM Executive Secretary (OAS)
B. Stephen Carpenter, Chairman, SIM Technical Committee (NIST)
Yoshito Mitani, Chairman, SIM Professional Development Committee (CENAM)
Luis Mussio, SURAMET, Coordinator (LATU)
José Dajes, ANDIMET, Coordinator (INDECOPI)
Hermon Edmondson, CARIMET, Coordinator, (JBS)
Willie May, NORAMET, Coordinator, (NIST)
João A. Herz da Jornada, on behalf of Armando Mariante, Former SIM President, (INMETRO)
Paulo Ferracioli, SIM Secretary (INMETRO)

Invited Observers:
Raul Nunez , (INN)

Agenda

1. Introduction and Welcome / Introducción y Bienvenida
2. Verification of Quorum / Verificación de Quórum
3. Approval of Agenda / Aprobación de Agenda
4. Approval of the Minutes from previous Council Meeting /
Aprobación de la Acta de la Reunión Anterior del Consejo
5. Matters arising from the Minutes / Asuntos derivados de la Acta
6. Proposal of creation of SIM WEB Journal of Metrology/ Propuesta de creación de SIM WEB Periódico de Metrología
7. SIM Secretariat / Secretaria del SIM
8. SIM web page / Página web del SIM

Preparation of the General Assembly

9. Report from the SIM President / Informe del Presidente
10. Report from the Executive Secretary/
Informe del Secretario Ejecutivo
11. Report from the Technical Committee / Informe del Comité Técnico
12. Report from the Professional Development Committee /
Informe del Comité de Desarrollo Profesional
13. Report from the JCRB / Informe de JCRB
14. Work plan and budget for 2002 / Plan de Trabajo para el 2002
15. Planning of activities by region / Planes de actividad por región
16. Review of SIM statutes / Revisión de los estatutos del SIM
17. Future Activities / Actividades futuras
18. Other Business / Otros asuntos

1. Introduction and welcome
The meeting started at 8:30 am when Felipe Urresta thanked Steve Carpenter, NIST, and NCSLI, represented by Ed Nemeroff, for arranging the facilities for the meeting and welcomed Council members and invited observers. He informed the meeting that Armando Mariante Carvalho, former SIM president, could not be present and had designated João A. Herz da Jornada, SURAMET Representative to the Professional Development Committee (INMETRO), to attend on his behalf. Felipe Urresta also welcomed Paulo Ferracioli who is replacing Ms. Léa Contier de Freitas in the SIM secretariat.
The President of SIM expressed his solidarity with the United States rejecting the attack suffered on september 11th.
The SIM Council meeting workbook (thereafter referred to as workbook) was distributed to all Council members.

2. Verification of quorum
The quorum was verified to exist, six out of ten Council members being present.
Felipe Urresta read a letter sent by Lea Contier de Freitas comunication her "salida" from the International Affairs Department of INMETRO, and wishing success to SIM. The President thanked Mrs. Contier for her outstanding work in the Secretariat together with Josefa Paredes Villalobos.
Luis Mussio was designated to prepare the draft minutes of the meeting.

3. Approval of the Agenda
The agenda was approved without amendment.

4. Approval of previous meeting minutes
The minutes of the meeting held in Washington, 29th July 2001, with the following amendment:

Resolution CR 06/2001
Designate NRC as SIM representative to he APMP workshop on Quality Systems at NMIs.

However, it is accepted that any comments, which may arise later could be circulated through e-mail for future analysis.

5. Matters arising from the minutes
Luis Mussio informed that as stated in the previous minutes, the Documentation Working group is preparing the following documents:
· Registration of SIM comparisons. Responsible: Ismael Castelazo. The document is in final draft and will be sent to the Council Members.
· Registration of SIM courses and training. Responsible: Yoshito Mitani. A draft was circulated and is waiting for comments.
· Procedure for SIM budget distribution: Responsible: Luis Mussio. First draft distributed to the group and is waiting for comments.
· Procedure for numbering SIM comparisons: Responsible: Luis Mussio. In preparation.

Luis Mussio raised the point about the responsible for filling (archiving) of the registers produced by these procedures. After a discusion it was the decided that this filing must be done by the secretariat, if posible in electronic form in the SIM web-site.

Resolution CR09/2001
In order to maintain SIM information and history, a copy of every document produced during SIM meetings, courses or comparisons must be sent to the SIM secretariat for archiving.

Willie May sugested to create templates for reports and other documents. This suggestion was accepted. Joao Jornada offered to prepare these templates which will be included in the "Secretariat needs" report (see item 8).

6. Proposal of creation of SIM WEB Journal of Metrology.

The proposal for creating an electronic Web Journal of Metrology was discused. It was raised that a "Journal" implies to create and editorial scientific staff to have a metrological publication.
It was stated that the idea is to have a place for short news and announcements, not for the publication of articles. The place for publication of articles should be InfoSIM.
It was suggested that this new electronic publication should be named as "News letter" and be published quarterly. It will contain general information about metrology events, short news, and other information of interest for SIM members.
The possibility of mantaining this newsletter will be included in the "Secretariat needs" report (see item 8).

7. SIM Secretariat - 8. SIM web page

Paulo Ferracioli, new Director of the International Affairs Department INMETRO introduced himself and announce that INMETRO will continue with the SIM-secretariat.

Resolution CR10/2001
The council approved the appointment of Paulo Ferracioli as SIM secretary and welcomed him.

Josefa Paredes Villalobos reported about the present situation of the Web site, and the needs for permanent maintenance of the site.

Joao Jornada informed that INMETRO will continue with the web-site maintenance. As these tasks (secretary and web-site) may requiere funding, Jornada will prepare a report of the "Secretariat Needs", including the needs for supporting the secretariat work, web-site maintenance and a benchmark study with other RMOs.


Preparation of the General Assembly.

9. Report from the SIM President
Felipe Urresta made a brief presentation of his report to be presented in the GA meeting. The final report will be included in the GA meeting minutes.
One important remark was the decision taken on the proposal from PTB, inviting Dr. Schroerschwarz to make a presentation to the council in the meeting programed for december 14th.
This decision was supported by the council members.

Hermon Edmondson remarked that item 18 of the GA minutes: "Presentation of other Organizations attending the Assembly", should be changed to: "Presentation of other RMOs attending the Assembly meeting".

10. Report from the Executive Secretary

The SIM/OAS Project for 2002 was approved for a total of US$ 180 000.

It was reported that it is needed to presente the scholarships program. To coordinate this action an ad-hoc group was created composed by: Yoshito Mitani, Willie May, Oscar Harasic, Hermon Edmondsond, Felipe Urresta and Luis Mussio.

The complete report will be included in the GA meeting minutes.

11. Report from the Technical Advisor and Technical Committee Chairman

Steve Carpenter announced that he will leave his position as TC chairman.
The President thanked him for his outstanding performance as TC chairman for the last six years.

A complete report of the TC activities will be included in the GA meeting minutes.

12. Report from the Professional Development Committee Chairman

The report from the PDC is already in the GA workbook and will be included in the minutes.

13. Report from the SIM Representative to the JCRB

The report from the JCRB is already in the GA workbook and will be included in the minutes.

14. Work plan and budget for 2002

No comments

15. Planning of activities by region

No comments

16. Review of SIM statutes
Luis Mussio informed about the proposed changes to the statute, and particularly about the changes in Chapter 8, structure of the PDC. It was suggested that the proposed alternative would give more support to the PDC but lacking participation. After a fruitful discussion, it was decided to reject the proposed modification to the structure of the PDC (Chapter 8). Also it was suggested that the PDC and TC should try to have always joint meetings, and inform to the subregions that in case of difficulties the same member can be delegated to both committees.

17. Future activities
No comments.

18. Other business

IDB Project.
After a exhaustive discussion about the last modifications to the IDB project, it was proposed a meeting with the participation of the Yoshito Mitani, Paulo Ferracioli and Joao Jornada. A short report will be presented on Friday 14th after the GA.

19. Next Council meeting

The meeting was adjourned until Friday 14th december 2001.

SIM Council Meeting
Saturday, 14th December 2001

Attendance list
Council Members
Felipe Urresta, SIM President (INEN)
Oscar Harasic, SIM Executive Secretary (OAS)
B. Stephen Carpenter, Chairman, SIM Technical Committee (NIST)
Yoshito Mitani, Chairman, SIM Professional Development Committee (CENAM)
Luis Mussio, SURAMET, Coordinator (LATU)
José Dajes, ANDIMET, Coordinator (INDECOPI)
Hermon Edmondson, CARIMET, Coordinator, (JBS)
Willie May, NORAMET, Coordinator, (NIST)
João A. Herz da Jornada, on behalf of Armando Mariante, Former SIM President, (INMETRO)
Paulo Ferracioli, SIM Secretary (INMETRO)

Invited Observers - Participants:
Janusz Lusztyk (NRC)
Reiner Schroerschwarz (PTB)

1. Introduction
Beatriz Paniagua, delegate from Costa Rica asks for an intervention and the following problems are mentioned:
a. Intercomparisons: There is no response to the request of a SIM number for the Volume comparison organized in CAMET by PTB. The TC report states partial funding from PTB and it should say total funding. It is requested also for the publication of the comparison.
b. MWG7, EM proposed Dr. Harold Sánchez as Chair of the MGW.
c. It was also mentioned that there should be more support for specific actions, more technical support and more budget for comparisons.

Steve Carpenter indicated that, to be accepted as SIM comparisons, the requiered information should be sent to the Chair of the corresponding MWG prior to the comparison. There were comparisons already finished that suddenly appear and are requested to be recognized as SIM comparisons. So there is some confusion to what is needed and what is going on.
Also mentioned that the countries have not send the names of technical contacts for all the areas. So when there is an activity planned, is difficult to find the contact persons. This should be a responsibility of the coordinators to provide the names.
The funds are very small and a lot of money was used for the GA, travel and per-diem. So it is not possible to provide full support for comparisons, some counterpart is needed.
The nomination of Harold Sanchez for the MWG is a decision of the working group. This is something that should be decided in the MWG and not in the council because is a peer work, and the council do not have the technical expertise.

Evelyn Vanegas noted that Costa Rica should use the normal channels within SIM, and all those issues and the presentation to the Councial should have been previously coordinated at a Sub Regional level and the presented by the Subregional Coordinator.

Janusz Lusztyk remarked the importance of the procedure for comparisons, and proposed to send it to a broad number of people.

2. Verification of Quorum / Verificación de Quórum
9 Out of ten members are present so quorum is stablished.

3. Approval of Agenda / Aprobación de Agenda

4. Matters arising from the General Assembly / Asuntos derivados de la Asamblea General
4.1. Activation of the QS group, It was mentioned that the Council should give directive to the QS on how to act.
The following issues arised during the discusion:
There are two groups of NMIs. The terms of reference should cover two tasks:
To promote those who are not leveled, and to provide the reference on how the work is going to be done to comply with the requierements of a statement of achievement of the QS needed to be in the MRA.
The JCRB expects from SIM the declaration about QS and the procedure on how it was done.
There is a need for 6 NMIs to present the QS to JCRB so probably a forum of discusion is needed.
The spirit is that the region ensure that the NMIs have QS in the job. Other RMOs are also working as SIM being careful not to impose Accreditation.
It is responsibility of the TC Chair to promote the forum and the QSWG should organize the forum.
The forum should have presentations from any other NMIs wishing to show their QS.
The participants should be the technical contact persons to the QSWG.
It would be important to have participation of representatives from other RMOs.
Euromet has rules for the presentation and are rather simple. The difficult part is latter to pass judgement.
There is no time limit, so we there is pressure to say yes or no. The CMCs will go to the appendix C regardless of the status of the QS.
Proposes to commit the TC coordinator to contact the QSWG and prepare a proposal according to the points stated in this meeting, to be presented in the next council meeting,
It was also stated the need of having writen procedures (a set of documents) regulating the system.

Resolution CR11/2001:
The regional coordinators are commited to contact the NMIs of the subregion and request to enrole.

5. Appointment of TC coordinator/Nombramiento del coordinador del TC
Ismael Castelazo is proposed as TC Chairman for the next term.

Resolution CR 12/2001:
Ismael Castelazo is nominated as TC coordinator by unanimous decision.

Yoshito asked the council to contact the Director of CENAM explaining the reason for nominating two people from CENAM.to the permanent committees.
Ismael Castelazo thanks and accepts the nomination. He asked for the reconsideration of his position in the JCRB, eventhough he will very pleased to continue attending the JCRB meeting.
Steve Carpenter proposed to nominate the alternate delegate as delegate and nominate a new alternate.

Resolution CR 13/2001:
Hratch Semerjian is nominated as representative from SIM to the JCRB.

Resolution CR 14/2001:
Luis Mussio is nominated as alternate to the JCRB.

Luis Mussio personally accepts but he request a time to do the proper contact with the authorities of LATU.

Resolution CR 15/2001:
Joao Jornada is nominated as SIM liasson with NCSLI

6. Future Activities / Actividades futuras

The following callendar is proposed:
Council meeting - February 3 and 4 in Montevideo.
Preparation of the 2003 project
Distribution of 2002 budget.
TC meeting - August 4 and 5 San Diego (together with NCLSI meeting).
Council and GA meeting Sept 22 - 27 Santiago de Chile

Steve Carpenter strongly encouragee TC and PDC coordinators to get input from the regional coordinators.

Resolution 16/2001: To use the remaining of the 2001 budget for supporting the council meeting on February 2002.

7. Other Business / Otros asuntos

a. Presentation of PTB project /Presentacion del proyecto PTB.

On behalf of PTB, Reiner Schroerscharz offered the posibility of planning common activities at a regional level.

Some possible fields for cooperation were mentioned, among others:
Environment can be: air, noise, ISO14000. soil.
Health protection can be another area. HACCP, compatilibilty and much more.
Consumer protection, labeling, making surveillance, instruments.
Conformity assesment, Risk managnment, etc.
Provide a better understanding of European requierements and support to the systems that would help to comply.
Food and environment.

Sim thanks the offer presented by PTB through Dr. Reiner Schroeschwarz and agrees intitiate a cooperation program in chemical metrology, with the umbrella of food and environmental issues.

Resolution 17/2001: To create and ad-hoc group coordinated by Willie May and Yoshito Mitani that will prepare a proposal for cooperation with PTB, and send the proposal to PTB by the end of January.

8. Session Closing/ Cierre de la secion.

Having no more points in the agenda the session is closed.

SIM Council Resolutions

Miami , USA
8th December 2001

Resolution CR09/2001

In order to maintain SIM information and history, a copy of every document produced during SIM meetings, courses or comparisons must be sent to the SIM secretariat for archiving.

Resolution CR10/2001

The council approved the appointment of Paulo Ferracioli as SIM secretary and welcomed him.

Resolution CR11/2001

The regional coordinators are commited to contact the NMIs of the subregion and request to enrole.

Resolution CR 12/2001

Ismael Castelazo is nominated as TC coordinator by unanimous decision..

Resolution CR 13/2001

Hratch Semerjian is nominated as representative from SIM to the JCRB.

Resolution CR 14/2001

Luis Mussio is nominated as alternate representative from SIM to the JCRB.

Resolution CR 15/2001

Joao Jornada is nominated as SIM liasson with NCSLI

Resolution 16/2001

To use the remaining of the 2001 budget for supporting the council meeting on February 2002.