Collaborating on legal and scientific metrology in South Korea

South Korea’s scientific and legal metrology activities are administered by two different government ministries.

The two key metrology institutes have had to establish a strong partnership to jointly operate its national standards system (quality infrastructure).

The way they have worked together and tapped into international expertise to build the system has been very effective in ensuring that the economy now possesses a world-class quality infrastructure.

South Korea’s main quality infrastructure bodies

The South Korea National Metrology Institute, with its expertise in measurement science, contributes to legal metrology activities while scientific metrology is overseen by the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS), under the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.

Other legal metrology activities - conformity assessment and standardisation - are carried out by the Korea Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS), under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

KRISS and KATS closely work together to operate the national quality infrastructure.

Key steps in the partnership process

In 1961 South Korea passed a law to ensure that national measurement units should be set according to international units of measurement (SI). In 2014, this law was amended to become the Measures Act. The act also introduced enforcement requirements such as type approval and verification, regular inspection of measuring instruments, calibration of measuring devices and managing pre-packaged products.

To implement these activities, KRISS provided its expertise in measurement science and technology, both domestic and international, to KATS. KRISS’s scientific metrology knowledge provided the technical support KATS needed to revise the act.

Becoming an international metrology leader

KRISS was set up in 1975 and established the economy’s first national measurement standards. Since then KRISS has increased its capacity to meet international requirements.

It is now actively involved in international (International Committee for Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM)) and regional (Asia Pacific Metrology Programme (APMP)) measurement standards bodies as a leading national metrology institute. It also shares its knowledge and experience with developing countries.

Such international success can be attributed to the initial support KRISS received from many developed NMIs in the United States, Germany, Japan and Australia, as well as support from the Korean government and the commitment of KRISS members.

Using its improved capabilities, KRISS has also contributed to national legal metrology. Though SI requirements were introduced in South Korea before KRISS was set up, since it was established KRISS has made it possible to operate the national system of standards in a more stable and systematic way. This is due to KRISS and KATS possessing different expertise and responsibility.

Continuing to work together

South Korea’s experiences show that interconnecting legal and scientific metrology is important for international activities as well. KRISS has provided its experts to KATS working committees operated under its Specialised Technical Committee to deal with International Organisation of Legal Metrology (OIML) recommendations and resolutions.

KRISS also supports KATS’ international legal metrology activities by providing technical reviews of OIML publications and participating in OIML technical committees and subcommittees meetings.