Measuring instruments range from waters meters to weighing machines. They are important for trade, consumers and industry as they ensure accuracy of measurement, transparency and fairness.
See the summaries of the legislation on measuring instruments and non-automatic weighing instruments (available in all official EU languages).
Implementation of these Directives takes place in close cooperation with WELMEC, the Western European Legal Metrology Cooperation, which serves as a platform for cooperation among 31 European countries' authorities.
To ensure a coherent application of the measuring instruments directives, the Commission and WELMEC (European Cooperation in Legal Metrology) prepared a set of guidance.
The guidance documents were agreed by the Commission's working group 'measuring instruments' that is composed of representatives of authorities, European federations, notified bodies and European standardisation organisations.
More on guidance documents
In 2010 the Commission held a public consultation on the Measuring Instruments Directive 2004/22/EC. The aim of the consultation was to gather feedback on the implementation of the Directive and on the reasons and impacts of possible changes
Simplification of eight legal metrology directives
The European Commission mandate (782 kB) to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI in the field of measuring instruments is leading to the creation of European standards that will enable interoperability of utility meters (water, gas, electricity and heat) and enhance energy efficiency and user empowerment.
The 2015 mandate M/541 concerns new European standards for the non-exploitation of errors by water and heat meters, metering small-scale delivery of active electricity to the grid and use of energy by electrical vehicles. The new standards are expected to be delivered by the end of 2017.
According to Article 14.2 of Directive 2014/32/EU on measuring instruments, normative documents by the 'Organisation Internationale de la Métrologie Légale' (OIML) may be identified as giving presumption of conformity with the essential requirements of the Directive. To this end, references to the following normative documents have been published in the Official Journal and specific guidance provided (N.B. according to Article 52(2) of Directive 2014/32/EU references to the repealed Directive 2004/22/EC are construed as references to the current Directive):
| Normative document | Official journal | Guidance |
Water meters - OIML R 49, 2006 and R 49-2, 2004 - 2004/22/EC MI-001 | ||
| Gas meters - OIML R 137, 2012 - 2014/32/EU MI-002 | OJ C 308, 16.9.2017, p. 1 | |
Volume conversion devices - OIML R 140, 2007 - 2004/22/EC MI-002 II | ||
| Active electrical energy meters - OIML R 46, 2012 - 2014/32/EU MI-003 | OJ C 308, 16.9.2017, p. 7 | CT-003, 2016 |
Heat Meters - OIML R 75-1 and R 75-2, 2002 – 2004/22/EC MI-004 | ||
Measuring system for the continuous and dynamic measurement for quantities of liquids other then water - OIML R 117-1, 2007 - 2004/22/EC MI-005 | ||
Automatic catchweighing instruments - OIML R 51-1, 2006 - 2004/22/EC MI-006 II | ||
Automatic gravimetric filling instruments - OIML R 61-1, 2004 - 2004/22/EC MI-006 III | ||
Discontinuous totalisers - OIML R 107-1, 1997 - 2004/22/EC MI-006 IV | ||
Continuous totalisers - OIML R 50-1, 1997 - 2004/22/EC MI-006 V | ||
Automatic rail weighbridges - OIML R 106-1, 1997 - 2004/22/EC MI-006 VI | ||
Taximeters - OIML R 21, 2007 - 2004/22/EC MI-007 II | ||
Capacity serving measures -OIML R 138, 2007 - 2004/22/EC MI-008 II | ||
Length measuring instruments - OIML R 66, 1985 - 2004/22/EC MI-009 II | ||
Area measuring instruments - OIML R 136-1, 2004 - 2004/22/EC MI-009 III | ||
Multidimensional measuring instruments - OIML R 129, 2000 - 2004/22/EC MI-009 IV | ||
Exhaust gas analyser - OIML R 99-1 & 2, 2008 - 2004/22/EC MI-010 |
