 
Structure
· Brief
History
· Objectives
· Mission
e Vision
· Council
Members
· TC
· PDC |
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As
established in Article 1 of SIM’s Bylaws,
the idea of an Inter-american metrology project
has been advanced by many countries and organizations
from the early nineteen seventies. In 1971,
the need of cooperation in metrology in The
Americas was stressed during the Conference
on Applications of Science and Technology
in Latin America, held in Brasilia, Brazil.
The fourth meeting of the Inter-american Council
for Education, Science and Culture (Consejo
Inter-americano para la Educación,
la Ciencia y la Cultura, CIECC), in Mar del
Plata, Argentina, in 1972, passed resolution
174, establishing a regional system for metrology
and calibration (Sistema Inter-americano de
Metrología y Calidad, SIMYC).
In 1974, the Organization of American States
(OAS) and the National Bureau of Standards
(NBS, now National Institute of Standards
and Technology, NIST, USA) organized an international
meeting on industrialization and
standardization in Gaithersburg, Maryland,
where regional metrology needs were discussed.
The OAS (former Departamento de Asuntos Científicos
y Tecnológicos, DACYT) convened a meeting
in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the Instituto
Nacional de TecnologÌa Industrial (INTI),
in 1975, to design a special project in the
area of metrology, focusing on scientific,
industrial and legal metrology.
In 1979, as part of the special project on
metrology, the Inter-american Metrology System
(SIM) was created, consisting of thirteen
Latin American countries. Many other institutions
outside the Americas have also contributed
to the creation of SIM, such as Istituto di
Metrologia “Gustavo Colonnetti”
(IMGC, Italy),
Instituto Elettrotecnico Nazionale Galileo
Ferraris (IEN, Italy) and Physikalisch-Technische
Bundesanstalt (PTB, Germany). The long-standing
support of PTB to many metrology institutions
in Latin America, through its
technical cooperation program, was influential
in the formation and development of SIM.
In 1992 PTB organized, together with the Centro
Español de Metrología (CEM,
Spain), and the Instituto Português
da Qualidade (IPQ, Portugal) a meeting for
constructing a metrology system, conceived
at that time as Sistema
Iberoamericano de Metrologia. Also in 1992,
the OAS and NIST were invited to help in reconstructing
SIM as Sistema Inter-americano de Metrologia.
Thus, in 1993 and 1994, these two organizations,
with support from the US
Department of State and the National Metrology
Center of Mexico (CENAM), organized three
regional metrology workshops in Caracas, Venezuela,
Buenos Aires, Argentina and San José,
Costa Rica, with participation of
representatives from the government, scientific
and industrial sectors in each country.
The OAS and NIST have organized specialized
courses and granted fellowships for a Flow
Metrology course in Quito, Ecuador and the
Caribbean Measurement Assurance Program, in
San Juan, Puerto Rico. During the
Summit of the Americas, held in December of
1994, in Miami, Florida, the Presidents of
the Americas issued a Declaration of Principles,
emphasizing economic integration and free
trade, through reduction of technical barriers
and promotion of technical cooperation programs
on metrology and standards. Following this
Summit, the OAS convened a coordinating meeting
in Rio de Janeiro, in January of 1995, attended
by 25 countries, which proposed a project
to reorganize and revitalize SIM.
From 1995 to 1998 the SIM presidency was held
by CENAM, Mexico and SIM gained a stronger
financial support from the OAS. In 1997, with
the participation of experts from 22 SIM members,
an Inter-american Metrology
Workshop was organized in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, to implement an Inter-american Chemical
Metrology Program, which is underway.
Since 1995, many actions have been implemented
to organize interlaboratory comparisons of
national standards and a great effort was
dedicated to the development of human resources
in metrology. Under the auspice of the Programa
RH-Metrologia of Brazil, adopted as a model
for SIM with the support from OAS, three advanced
schools in metrology were organized as a strategy
to promote a close interaction between eminent
personalities from the world of metrology
and top researchers and metrologists from
the technical and scientific American community.
In September 1998, during the General Assembly
held in Costa Rica, Brazil was elected for
two-year period presidency.
In September 2000, during the General Assembly
held in Jamaica, Ecuador was elected for
the next two years period president.
 
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© 2002, SIM - Sistema Interamericano
de Metrologia
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