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Protecting people and environment;
Service to society and economy

Given the technical development, protection provisions in areas such as health, safety, environmental protection, and trade have become essential. In the health sector, accurate and reliable measurements are a necessary prerequisite to decide on the correct diagnosis and therapy. Road and workplace safety as well as safety in many other areas call for unambiguous regulations that can be verified by means of reliable measurements. A prerequisite for environmental protection measures is that pollutants in soil, air, and water can be accurately determined. Supervising both measuring equipment and their use ensures a fair trade of goods.

Legal metrology forms the basis for dismantling trade barriers and for the international acceptance of test results and certificates from Switzerland. For this purpose, the legal requirements and the technical standards, as well as the test and monitoring procedures have to be co-ordinated with our key trade partners, and measurements have to be performed correctly and verifiably by professionally competent bodies.

The Federal Office of Metrology METAS is the Swiss Federation's competent authority for metrology (stated in the Ordinance for the Organisation of the Federal Departement of Justice and Police, available in German, French and Italian only). Specific tasks such as the gauging of inland water vessels are realised by other bodies (the according convention and ordinance are available in German, French and Italian only).