Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country in Southeast Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula, bordered by Adriatic Sea, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. Bosnia and Herzegovina covers area of 51 129 square kilometers with population of 4 613 414 (estimated in 2007). The interior of the country is mountainous in the center and south, hilly in the northwest, and flat in the northeast. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s natural resources are highly abundant. Capital city is Sarajevo and represents political, commercial and cultural centre with population of over 400 000 citizens. Formerly one of the six federal units constituting the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina held a referendum on independence on February 29 and March 1, 1992, after that B&H became internationally recognized on April 6, 1992.

Bosnia and Herzegovina can be described as a federal democratic republic that is transforming its economy into market oriented system, and it is a potential candidate for membership in the European Union and NATO. Additionally, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a member of Council of Europe since April 24, 2002 and founding member of the Mediterranean Union upon its establishment on July 13, 2008.

Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina represents the State. The Chair of Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina rotates among three members (Bosniak, Serb, Croat) each elected as the Chair for an eight – month term within their four year term of office. The government of Bosnia and Herzegovina is organized as a Council of Ministers and represents the highest executive body. The Chair of the Council of Ministers is nominated by the Presidency and approved by the House of Representatives.

• Institute of Standards, Metrology and Patents of Bosnia and Herzegovina is established as a governmental institution in period 1992-2000. This institute changed the name in 200 into Institute of Standards, Metrology and Intellectual Property of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina was established by restructuring above mentioned Institute, as projected by the Law of establishing Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued in September 2004. The final separation between the Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Institute of Standardization of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Institute of Intellectual Property of Bosnia and Herzegovina was finalized on January 1, 2007.

Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina represents National Metrology Institute (NMI) which is directly responsible to the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On July 10, 2008, Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, upon a proposal of Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has nominated Metrological Council composed of scientific and competent members in the domain of metrology that operates as professional and advisory body of the Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Legal framework of the Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina is defined with:

• The Law of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( B&H Official Gazette, No. 19/2001)
• The Law of Measurement Units of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H Official Gazette, No 19/2001)
• The Law of establishment of the Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( B&H Official Gazette, No 43/2004)

Metrology Infrastructure in Bosnia and Herzegovina is organized with following parts:

• Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina with referent laboratories in mentioned Institute
• Accredited laboratories according to BAS EN ISO/IEC 17025
• Designated measurement laboratories

According to Law of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina:

• Realizes the base of standards in Bosnia and Herzegovina, develops, creates, declares and maintains national standards of legal (SI) units of measurement,
• Provides traceability of the national standards through unbroken chain of intercomparisons to the international standards,
• Prescribes metrological requirements for standards, reference materials and measuring instruments,
• Makes decisions on recognizing the standards as national standards,
• Performs the conformity assessment including the pattern evaluation and pattern approvals of measuring instruments,
• Deals with research and development in the field of metrology,
• Proposes the development projects and defines priorities in their realization in the field of metrology,
• Participates in the activities of the international organizations for metrology representing Bosnia and Herzegovina therein,
• Implements international agreements for cooperation in the field of metrology,
• Participates in the activities of the international organizations and associations in the field of metrology,
• Appoints representatives that will participate in their activities or observe them, and represent Bosnia and Herzegovina therein,
• Organizes and directs scientific research activities in the field of metrology,
• Realizes their part of the project, in the field of metrology, performed within Institute in association with competent scientific research organizations, institutions and individuals from the country and abroad.

The role of the Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina is:

• Realization and maintenance of national measurement standards and ensuring its traceability to the internationally recognized measurement standards – realization of SI base and derivate units
• Establishment of distributed measurement system by appointing other legal person (if requirements fulfilled) to perform task of holder of national measurement standard or to perform verification of measuring instruments
• Issuing metrological regulations
• Being in charge of conformity assessment certification
• Being in charge of international cooperation
• Supporting research and development in all areas of metrology

Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina also has a role in harmonization of B&H legislation with the EC Directives. At this moment, jurisdiction of Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina is implementation of the following Directives:

• Directive on Measuring Instruments 2004/22/EC
• Directive on Non-Automatic Weighing Instruments 90/384/EEC and 93/68/EEC ( CE Marking )
• Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste 94/62/EC

Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina currently has 42 employees and plans to employ a total of 72 employees. IT also has two centers for verification in Sarajevo and Tuzla.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a member of the following international and European metrological organizations:

• EURAMET – Associate - Corresponding Applicant A-CA (pending member status)
• OIML - Corresponding member since 1997
• WELMEC – Associate member since 2009

01 Length measuring instruments
02 Measuring instruments for area
03 Volume and flow measuring instruments
04 Measuring instruments for angle
05 Measuring instruments for mass
06 Measuring instruments for density (mass volume) and concentration
07 Measuring instruments for time
08 Measuring instruments for frequency
09 Measuring instruments for speed
10 Measuring instruments for force and hardness
11 Measuring instruments for pressure
12 Measuring instruments for viscosity
13 Measuring instruments for electrical energy and quantity of heat
14 Measuring instruments for power
15 Measuring instruments for electrical current
16 Measuring instruments for voltage
17 Measuring instruments for electrical resistance
18 Measuring instruments for electrical capacity
19 Measuring instruments for inductivity
20 Measuring instruments for magnetic induction
21 Measuring instruments for magnetic flux
22 Measuring instruments for intensity of magnetic filed
23 Measuring instruments for temperature
24 Measuring instruments for photometrical quantities
25 Measuring instruments for radio metrical quantities
26 Measuring instruments for activity of radioactive source
27 Measuring instruments for absorbed dose of ionizing radiation
28 Measuring instruments for exposition dose of ionizing radiation
29 Measuring instruments for sound and audiometers

National type approval responsibility rests with Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina for all measuring instruments subject to Legal Metrology. Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina may use other laboratories which comply with the requirements of BAS EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard. Fees and costs for issuing a type approval certificate or performing conformity evaluation and verification are defined in Government Ordinance.

Initial verification of measuring instruments is performed by Sector for verification. Initial verification procedure is specified by regulation. Verification fees are set by ordinance.

A mandatory re-verification system is supplemented by inspection. The re-verification frequencies are set by ordinance. Typical re-verification intervals are:

Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the present has 42 employees. Most of them are engineers. The staff engaged in type approvals is engineers with technical background. Employees in the verification are engineers and technicians.

Sanctions are based upon a system of administrative penalties. A preventive enforcement policy is applied resulting in penalties normally only being applied in cases where fraud is evident. Non – verified or inaccurate instruments can be impounded or sealed to prevent further use.