India Hosts 61st CIML Meeting in New Delhi for First Time

India has taken up the role of host for the 61st Meeting of the International Committee of Legal Metrology (CIML), which opened in New Delhi and will sit until 28 October 2026. This is the first occasion on which the country has hosted the gathering of the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML), the body that frames worldwide rules for weights, measures and measuring instruments. Delegates, senior officials and technical specialists from member countries have assembled for the three-day programme, which the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is conducting.

Who spoke at the opening

Proceedings began with an international seminar titled Evolutions in Legal Metrology, after which the first session of the committee was held. Dr. Bob Joseph Matthew, President of CIML, greeted the visiting delegates and spoke of measurement law as a safeguard for honest trade and for buyers. The seminar was chaired by Ms. Renee Hansson of Sweden, the First Vice-President of CIML, who dwelt on digitalisation and on market needs that keep shifting. Mr. Anthony Donellan, Director of the International Bureau of Legal Metrology (BIML), set out the organisation's work on harmonised technical recommendations, on mutual acceptance of test results through the OIML Certification System (OIML-CS) and on machine-readable standards being drawn up under the Smart Recommendations initiative.

What India placed on the table

Smt. Nidhi Khare, Secretary in the Department of Consumer Affairs, listed the changes her department has made in this field. She pointed to the Jan Vishwas reforms of 2023 and 2026, under which listed offences were taken out of the criminal law and replaced by improvement notices and penalties graded by severity. She also described the widening network of Government Approved Test Centres (GATCs), which adds verification capacity, and the e-Maap national portal, which brings legal metrology services online. India's recognition as an OIML-CS Issuing Authority, she said, helps Indian manufacturers have their test results accepted in other markets.

One Nation, One Time

The Secretary drew attention to the National Time Dissemination Project, named One Nation, One Time, whose purpose is to supply accurate and traceable Indian Standard Time everywhere in the country. Banking, telecommunications, 5G networks, navigation, digital infrastructure and power systems are the sectors expected to gain from closer time synchronisation. A presentation by Shri Ashutosh Agarwal, Director (Legal Metrology), traced standardised weights and measures in India from early civilisations down to the present framework, and covered the regulation of packaged commodities, the Regional Reference Standard Laboratories and the Indian Institute of Legal Metrology at Ranchi.

The rest of the programme

An OIML Strategy Workshop is set for 27 October 2026, to be followed by the second session of the committee. On 28 October the delegates will visit CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, which keeps India's national measurement standards. Seminar papers dealt with measurement requirements for electric vehicle charging equipment, mutual recognition of conformity assessment, and the use of artificial intelligence in verification work. The deliberations tie exact measurement to innovation, smoother trade and the goal of Viksit Bharat 2047.