Ocho Rios, Jamaica, September 28th and 29th, 2000

AGENDA

1. Accreditation of Delegates
2. Verification of Quorum
3. Approval of Agenda
4. Approval of the Minutes from the Previous General Assembly
5. Ratification of Council Decisions
6. Report from the SIM President, Armando Mariante Carvalho
7. The Metre Convention at the Start of the New Millennium, Terry Quinn, BIPM
8. Report from the Executive Secretary, Oscar Harasic
9. Report from the Professional Development Committee, Yoshito Mitani
10. Report from the Technical Committee, Steve Carpenter
11. Report from the SIM Representative to the JCRB, Ismael Castelazo, CENAM
12. Presentation of BIPM MRA/Appendix C Data Base, Bob Watters, NIST
13. Presentation of PTB, Germany, Reiner Schroerschwarz
14. Presentation of NCSL, USA, Ed Nemeroff
15. Presentation of SIM/OAS Project for 2001, Oscar Harasic
16. Presentation of SIM/IDB Project for 2001-2004, Armando Mariante Carvalho
17. Break-up for parallel sub-regional meetings
a. Designation of sub-regional coordinators
b. Designation of sub-regional delegates to the Technical Committee
c. Designation of sub-regional delegates to the Professional Development Committee
d. Preparation of sub regional reports
e. Other business
18. Presentation of Sub-regional Reports
19. Presentation of other Organizations attending the Assembly
20. Election of SIM President for the 2000-2002 term
21. Other Business
22. Next General Assembly
23. Closing Session
a. · Designation of sub-regional coordinators
b. · Presidency transmission by the leaving President
c. · Words by the elected President

ATTENDANCE LIST

SIM Members

ANDIMET
1. Felipe Urresta, INEN, Ecuador
2. Jose Dajes Castro, INDECOPI, Peru
3. Juan Carlos Castillo, IBMETRO - VICI, Bolivia
4. Maria Milagros Toro, SENCAMER, Venezuela

CAMET
5. Beatriz Paniagua Valverde, ONNUM, Costa Rica
6. Cristina Rodriguez, COHCIT, Honduras
7. Francisco De La Barrera, DGNTI, Panama
8. Helen Reynolds Arana, BBS , Belize
9. Juan Gabriel Perez Olivas, Min. Ind. Comercio, Nicaragua
10. Miguel Tevez, CONACYT, El Salvador

CARIMET
11. Anselm Gitters, SLBS, St. Lucia
12. Chatterpaul Ramcharran, GNBS, Guyana
13. Hadyn Rhynd, BNSI, Barbados
14. Paula Skerritt, ABBS, Antigua & Barbuda
15. Paultre Jean Michel Industrie, Min. Com, Haiti
16. Roosevelt DaCosta, JBS, Jamaica
17. Sidney P. McKenzie, Min. Econ. Development, Bahamas
18. Steve John, DBS, Dominica
19. Theodore Reddock, TTBS, Trinidad and Tobago

NORAMET
20. Hector Nava-Jaimes, CENAM, Mexico
21. Hratch G. Semerjian, NIST, United States of America
22. Janusz Lusztyk, INMS, Canada

SURAMET
23. João Alziro H. da Jornada, INMETRO, Brazil
24. Luis Mussio, LATU, Uruguay
25. Raul Nuñez, INN, Chile

Armando Mariante Carvalho, SIM President, INMETRO, Brazil
Oscar Harasic, Executive Secretary / OAS
Hector Nava-Jaimes, Past President / CENAM
Yoshito Mitani, Chairman PDC / CENAM
Hratch G. Semerjian, Representative to JCRB / NIST

Léa Contier de Freitas, SIM Secretary, INMETRO, Brazil

Associate Participants
1. Ed Nemeroff, NCSL, USA
2. Reiner Schroerschwarz, PTB, Germany

Observers
Gabriela Massiff, INTEC, Chile
Hermon Edmondson, JBS, Jamaica
Horacio Peña Vigas, SENCAMER, Venezuela
Klaus Brinkmann, PTB, Germany
Leonel Hernandez, Embassy of Venezuela in Jamaica,
Luis Revuelta Formoso, INIMET, Cuba
Martin Antimez Ramirez, NC, Cuba
Willie E. May, NIST, USA

Welcome
The General Assembly started at 9h20min, all delegates being in possession of the 6th Annual General Assembly workbook, thereof called the GA workbook.
The President of SIM, Armando Mariante Carvalho, welcomed all those present and congratulated the Jamaica Bureau of Standards (JBS) for the excellent organization and facilities provided for the General Assembly, greeting the Executive Director of JBS, Dr. Omer Thomas, and presenting a plaque on behalf of SIM as an expression of recognition. Dr. Omer Thomas, President of the Jamaica Bureau of Standards, in his turn, welcomed all delegates on behalf of the staff of JBS.

1. Accreditation of delegates
Each delegate spoke out his/her name as the voting representative of member institutions. The original signed presence list was filed at the SIM Secretariat. Delegates from 25 SIM full members and two associate participants were present.

2. Verification of quorum
Quorum was guaranteed since 25 out of the 34 full SIM members were present.

3. Approval of the Agenda
The Agenda as presented at the beginning of these minutes were approved without amendments.

4. Approval of the minutes from the previous General Assembly
The minutes were approved without amendments.

5. Ratification of Council resolutions
The resolutions from the Council meetings held in Caracas, January 2000, Rio de Janeiro, May 2000, and Ocho Rios, September 2000, in a total number of 24, were ratified. They form Appendix 1.

6. Report from the SIM President
Armando Mariante Carvalho presented his report (pages 23 to 24, GA workbook), which emphasized the main achievements over the past two years, with basis on the plan proposed by INMETRO for SIM at the beginning of the Brazilian term at the Presidency. The points that deserved special mention were related to the equivalence of national measurement standards, legal metrology, chemical metrology and the development of human resources.

7. Presentation by the BIPM
The President transmitted the apologies of Dr. Terry Quinn, who was absent due to illness. Dr. Janusz Lusztyk presented the text sent in by Dr. Quinn and which forms Appendix 2. The presentation concentrated on the resolutions of the 21st General Conference of Weights and Measures (CGPM) that took place in Paris in October 1999 but gave special emphasis to those related to
(i) the new category of Associate States and Economies of the CGPM;
(ii) to the implementation of the Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) for national easurement standards and
(iii) to the report on national and international needs for metrology presented to the GPM by the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM).

8. Report from the Executive Secretary
Oscar Harasic presented his report (pages 27 to 28, GA workbook), noting that the activities conducted by the Executive Secretariat could be divided into three categories, namely, (i) administrative, (ii) technical and of (iii) dissemination of information. Worth mentioning was the full election process which was conducted this year; the preparation of the project to be submitted to OAS for financial support; maintenance of the SIM homepage on the OAS server; the publication of the InfoSIM Magazine, handled by CENAM, Mexico;the publication of a monograph entitled "Metrology for non-metrologists"; and the technical assistance mission to Suriname to explore the feasibility of establishing a national metrology laboratory. Additionally, he told the meeting that the Executive Secretariat supported the President and members of the Council in establishing contact with other international organizations such as the inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank.

9. Report from the Professional Development Committee
Yoshito Mitani presented his report (pages 31 to 40, GA workbook) informed the meeting that the main tasks of the Professional Development Committee (PDC) were (i) coordinate and collaborate in the organization of workshops and specialized courses on metrology and (ii) establishing communication channels among the national metrology institutes, concerning training. He also presented the activities developed during the year and those planned for 2001, in the fields of chemical, physical and legal metrology, with their respective budget. He informed the meeting that the Council had recommended a close contact between the PDC and the Technical Committee (TC), so that activities could be planned as complementary. He also said that this suggestion was most welcome and would be immediately implemented with the invitation of three representatives from the TC working groups.

10. Report from the Technical Committee
Steve Carpenter, Chairman of the TC, sent his apologies for being absent, much regretting to have to depart in the morning. Hratch Semerjian, NIST, USA, presented the report on his behalf (pages 41 to 48 and 197 to 256, GA workbook), concentrating on those activities as discussed in the two TC meetings held in Anaheim, USA, January 2000, and in Toronto, Canada, July 2000. One of the main achievements of the TC was related to the submission of calibration and measurement capabilities (CMCs) of those national metrology institutes that were signatories to the CIPM MRA to the database maintained at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). A procedure for review of CMCs for such submissions and a nomenclature of SIM comparisons were approved. He noted that the full report, included in the GA workbook, contained a description of the activities conducted by each TC metrology-working group (WG).

11. Report from the SIM representative to the JCRB
Hratch G. Semerjian, NIST, USA presented the report prepared by Alan Robertson (pages 49 to 64, GA workbook), who had sent his apologies for not being able to attend the General Assembly.
Hratch G. Semerjian noted the excellent work done by Alan Robertson, from NRC, Canada, who served as SIM representative to the Joint Committee of the Regional Organizations and the BIPM (JCRB) until September, when he retired. Ismael Castelazo, from CENAM, Mexico, was appointed as the new representative and himself was appointed as his alternate.
He informed the meeting that only six of the 34 SIM members were signatories to the CIPM MRA and could submit their CMCs to the Appendix C of the MRA, maintained by the BIPM database. He also made the meeting note that the most important decision made during the March JCRB meeting, held in Gaithersburgh, USA, was that no CMC would enter the database if it was not fully approved by either the WG or the TC. Another point to be highlighted was that data were to be submitted in a more organized manner, following an established calendar. He also informed of the important discussion held on the need of comparable quality systems implemented in the national metrology institutes and of historical evidence of quality.

12. Presentation of BIPM MRA/Appendix C data base
Hratch G. Semerjian, NIST, USA, presented the report (pages 65 to 74, GA workbook) on behalf of Robert Watters, NIST, who could not attend the General Assembly. He informed that the database is an open system for examining all CMC support evidence and that it could be searched at the web site http://icdb.nist.gov. He presented examples of the data as actually displayed in the database. He also told the meeting that NIST was creating a similar database to serve SIM, where CMCs and comparison data for all 34 SIM member institutions would be included. The SIM database would link to other supporting information such as standard methods and non-archival publications of measurement methods, as included in proceedings and internal publications, and other quality assurance statements and/or documents.

13. Presentation of NCSL, USA
Ed Nemeroff informed about the National Conference of Standards Laboratories (NCSL) Annual Conference, held in Toronto from 16 to 20 July 2000 and that was attended by 1122 people from 33 countries. He also told the meeting that NCSL had become NCSL International in order to reflect the long-range plans and the truly global regional spirit of the organization, which had reached a membership from 48 nations and from 29 national metrology institutes. The proposed new structure of NCSL would consist of different regions in the world: Canada, USA, Mexico, Latin America, Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia-Pacific Rim, which kept correspondence with the regional metrology organizations. The realigned structure would have regional vice-presidents, country coordinators and section or area coordinators, thus improving communication with the NCSL board and addressing local and regional issues directly.

14. Presentation by PTB, Germany
Reiner Schroerschwarz, from the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, presented the report that could be found on pages 87 to 100 of the GA workbook. He presented some examples of the intercomparisons, in the physical and chemical fields, conducted by PTB involving member institutions of SIM over the period 1994 to 2000 and of those planned up to 2003. He also informed the meeting of Technical Cooperation (MSTQ-Projects) between PTB and SIM institutions in metrology, standardization, testing, quality and accreditation, certification and environmental protection. The main countries involved were Bolivia, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru.

15. Presentation of SIM/OAS Project for 2001
Oscar Harasic presented the multilateral project that was submitted by the US Mission to the OAS for financial support of SIM over the year 2001. The project entitled Metrology for the Americas: Measurement Infrastructure in support of Free Trade and Protection of the Environment for the Americas (pages 101 to 122, GA workbook.) requested from OAS a total of U$ 250 000.
As it has happened over the past three years, the funds requested to the OAS would mainly support training courses and comparisons. He emphasized that, during this period, the counterpart funds provided by the SIM institutions in the 34 countries amounted to around $ 2,000,000 (two million dollars) per year.

16. Presentation of SIM/IDB Project for 2001-2004
Armando Mariante Carvalho presented the project (pages 123 to 136, GA workbook) "Improving the Inter-American Metrology System towards the Free Trade Area of the Americas" that was negotiated in July and officially submitted to the Inter-American Development Bank (IBD) in September 2000. This project would supplement those funds traditionally provided by OAS and would allow an increase in SIM activities. The project was classified as a regional technical cooperation, meaning that funds provided by IDB would not have to be reimbursed. Activities covered by the project would be those of comparisons, training, consultancy and information. The total funds requested to IDB amounted to U$ 2 100 000. The project was under analysis by the Regional Technical Cooperation Division of IDB.
Many attendees to the General Assembly expressed their appreciation and complimented the SIM President for such initiative.

17. Sub-regional Reports
Each coordinator presented the report corresponding to his/her sub-region. The five reports form Appendix 3. The coordinators presented a summary of the activities conducted over the past two years and future needs. They also confirmed or presented new names of their representatives to the SIM Council, Technical and Professional Development Committees. The list of representatives forms Appendix 4.
The NORAMET sub-region put forward proposals of three resolutions.

18. Election of SIM President for the 2000-2002 term
Oscar Harasic described the election process and informed the meeting that the Executive Secretariat of SIM had received the applications of two candidates from their National Metrology Institutes to occupy the Presidency of SIM for the period 2000-2002. Both candidates, Dr. Joaquin Valdéz from INTI, Argentina, and Ing. Felipe Urresta from INEN, Ecuador, fulfilled the requirements for the post, in accordance to article 11 of the Rules of Order.
The SIM Secretariat, however, received a fax (INTI-169-00) on 22nd September 2000, from Ing. Julio Garcia Velasco, President of INTI, withdrawing the candidacy of Dr. Valdéz. With such communication, Felipe Urresta was left as the only candidate to be brought forward to the General Assembly.
Therefore, Oscar Harasic proposed that the Assembly confirmed or not Felipe Urresta as the new SIM President, upon which the Assembly proceeded to unanimously acclaimed him with a round of applause.

19. Other Business
Besides the three resolutions that had been proposed by NORAMET, a fourth resolution was put forward, thanking and congratulating the Jamaica Bureau of Standards. All four resolutions were unanimously approved by the General Assembly (Appendix 5).
The updated list of addresses forms Appendix 6.
The General Assembly also decided that the SIM Secretariat would remain at INMETRO, Brazil, for a further year so that a smooth transition could be made in the custody of documents and that the continuation of organizational activities already started could be guaranteed.

20. Transmission of SIM Presidential term
Armando Mariante Carvalho, the out-going SIM President, emphasized the importance of an organization such as SIM to the strong present demands for quality, and therefore metrology, in a global world and he expressed his satisfaction of having served a term, although short, in such an honorable position. He thanked the good work of the Council, the Technical and the Professional Development Committees, and all those that dedicated so many hours to SIM. He also expressed sincere thanks to JBS for the excellent facilities provided to the General Assembly and for the very professional work and help provided by the staff.
He then invited Ing. Felipe Urresta to come forward to resume his position as the in-coming SIM President. He marked the occasion by handing a plaque with the words SIM President to Ing. Urresta, under the applause of the General Assembly.
Armando Mariante Carvalho then called on the Former President, Hector Nava Jaimes, and invited the General Assembly to show its appreciation for his work in a round of applause and pay homage for his significant contribution to metrology and to SIM itself, as registered in the plaque handed to him.
Armando Mariante Carvalho then proceeded to invite Ing. Felipe Urresta to conduct the General Assembly from that point onward.
Hratch Semerjian proposed that the meeting thanked both Léa Contier de Freitas and Josefa Paredes Villalobos for the excellent work in organizing the General Assembly.

21. Next General Assembly
The delegates present supported the indication proposed by Hratch G. Semerjian, NIST, to hold the next General Assembly meeting in Miami, USA, from 21st to 26th October 2001.

Looking forward to see you all

Felipe Urresta
President of SIM