Bureau International des Poids et Mesures
The Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (International Bureau for Weights and Measures, or BIPM) is one of the three organizations established to maintain the SI system under the terms of the Metre Convention.It is based in at the Pavillon de Breteuil in Sèvres, France, where it enjoys extraterritorial status.
According to its official site:
The task of the BIPM is to ensure world-wide uniformity of measurements and their traceability to the International System of Units (SI).
It does this with the authority of the Convention of the Metre, a diplomatic treaty between fifty-one nations, and it operates through a series of Consultative Committees, whose members are the national metrology laboratories of the Member States of the Convention, and through its own laboratory work.
The BIPM carries out measurement-related research. It takes part in, and organizes, international comparisons of national measurement standards, and it carries out calibrations for Member States.
The others are:
- the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures (CGPM) and
- the Comité International des Poids et Mesures (CIPM).
