Saint Lucia, through the Metrology Department of the Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards (SLBS), has become the first Caribbean country to receive, in 2015, the prestigious OIML Award for Excellent Achievements in Legal Metrology in Developing Countries from the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML).
The award was announced at the 50th Meeting of the International Committee of Legal Metrology, CIML, held in Arcachon, France on 20–22 October 2015.
The OIML is the world’s premiere body for legal metrology and is an intergovernmental treaty organization which was established to develop model regulations, standards and related documents for use by legal metrology authorities and industry. Legal metrology which traditionally was called weights & measures is the application of legal requirements to measurements and measuring instruments.
The award recognizes what the OIML says is “steady and sustained progress in the area of legal metrology over the last 22 years.” It noted the significant contribution of the SLBS to legal metrology at the national and Caribbean levels despite Saint Lucia being a Small Island Developing State. Saint Lucia is the smallest country to receive this major accolade from the OIML in the Award’s seven-year history.
The Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards, energized by this Award for Excellence in Legal Metrology, will by continuous improvement, ensure that its services in metrology, standardization and conformity assessment are world class.
The Director of the Bureau, Dr. Mkabi Walcott, expressed her agency’s appreciation for such recognitionfrom an international body noting that such an award was as a result of the commendable work of the staff of the Metrology Department over the past twenty two years.
Mr. Anselm Gittens the head of the Metrology Department will receive the Award during the Annual General Assembly of the Inter-american Metrology System (SIM) to be held in the Dominican Republic in November.
The CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), of which Saint Lucia is a Member State, also congratulated the SLBS on the achievement, noting, “Whilst we were all well aware of the diligent efforts of the SLBS to develop a strong legal metrology system, it is fabulous to now see these energies being translated into international recognition, both for St. Lucia and by extension, the Caribbean Community.”
