Free Standards for Measurement Professionals

In today's financially stressed environment we are all looking to minimize expenditures and yet, as metrologists, we also need to have ready-access to standards that are relevant to our work. While some standards-setting bodies make their documents freely available, this is seldom the case for ISO publications.

Two principal standards of interest to the measurement professional are ISO/IEC Guide 98 which is also colloquially known as “the GUM” (Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement) and ISO/IEC Guide 99 which is also termed “the VIM” (International Vocabulary of Metrology). Together, these documents would set you back several hundred dollars if purchased in the USA.

However, the good news is that the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) is one of the standards bodies that offers its publications for free and they have the latest editions of the guides mentioned above, although published under an OIML standard identity.

To find the guides:

• Visit the OIML website and look for the Publications section
• Above the table, click the box entitled “Guides”
• Click the link for “G 1‑100‑en” (as alternatively published as ISO/IEC Guide 98‑3:2008)

You will probably also want to get:

• “G 1‑101‑en” (as alternatively published as ISO/IEC Guide 98‑1:2008)

To find the OIML version of the VIM:

• Click the “Vocabularies” box above the table
• Click the link for “V 2‑200‑en” (as alternatively published as ISO/IEC Guide 99:2007)

And while you're visiting OIML, be sure to browse around the rest of their website and their joint website with the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) — you're sure to find many items of interest.