1. Identify the origin and role of legal metrology

Legal metrology is first and foremost metrology, but metrology whose operating rules (tolerances, verification intervals, commissioning, etc.) have been laid down by the State.

Legal metrology has two objectives. It allows :

• on the one hand, to ensure the fairness of exchanges based on measurement results between a supplier and a customer ;

• to guarantee a level of accuracy for measurement results of interest to the State.

A pioneer in metrology with the creation of the metric system following the 1789 revolution, France boasts one of the oldest legal metrology systems in the world. Originally, metrological control operations were totally under State control, with the employment of a very large number of civil servants. Gradually, with the reform...