The National Measurement Office (NMO, previously known as NWML) is an Executive Agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The Agency was formerly known as the National Weights and Measures Laboratory until April 2008.
The current Chief Executive of the Agency is Mr Peter Mason, appointed in 2007. Its function is to provide a measurement infrastructure which supports innovation, facilitates fair competition, promotes international trade and protects consumers, health and the environment.
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The Agency was created in 1987 from a reorganisation of the Standards Department when it moved from its previous location in central London to a new, purpose-built facility in Teddington which was officially opened by HRH The Duke of Kent on the 9th of April 1987.
Until June 28, 2007 it was an Agency of the Department of Trade and Industry. It then became part of the newly formed DIUS (Dept. of Innovation, Universities and Skills) and now sits within the re-formed Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).
The Agency has responsibility for the National Measurement System (NMS) which is the UK's national infrastructure of laboratories that are involved with the science and technology of measurement. It has responsibility for maintaining the national primary standards (mass, length, time, temperature etc.) and disseminating the associated measurements and technologies to the UK for trade and measurement purposes.
NMO is responsible not only for setting the strategic direction of the measurement infrastructure, but also for aligning our policy and legislation, managing of NMS, and carrying out international activities on measurement. In addition, the NMO acts as a National Enforcement Authority for a range of EU-based environmental legislation and carries out commercial activities which rely on measurement expertise. The Agency has annual costs of circa £80m and 70 staff.
The Agency is also responsible for examining and approving new measuring instruments and equipment which are ultimately intended for use in trade in order to establish their compliance with national legislation such as the Weights and Measures Act 1985 and relevant EU legislation. The Agency also makes available to manufacturers of such equipment a consultancy service, intended to be used throughout different stages of the equipment's development. They also provide calibration and testing services to both local authorities and private businesses, as well as training in aspects of legal metrology to national and international clients.
http://www.nmo.bis.gov.uk/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=71