FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                  Roger Rensberger
May 16, 1994                            (301) 975-2762

                                        TN-5977


                  U.S./CANADA AGREE TO RECOGNIZE

         TEST RESULTS FOR WEIGHING AND MEASURING DEVICES


     Weights and measures officials in the United States and
Canada have agreed to mutual recognition of test results and
examinations of weighing and measuring devices by the U.S.
National Type Evaluation Program of the National Conference on
Weights and Measures and the Legal Metrology Branch of Industry
Canada.  NCWM is sponsored by the Commerce Department's National
Institute of Standards and Technology.

     The U.S./Canada Mutual Recognition of Type Evaluation
Program implements applicable international standardization
provisions of the U.S./Canada Free Trade Agreement that are
designed to remove barriers to trade between the two countries.

     The program will reduce costs and time delays for device
manufacturers and will eliminate duplication of tests performed
by the two countries.  This will increase the competitiveness for
both U.S. and Canadian manufacturers by speeding the time from
design to end use in the marketplace.

     The initial scope of mutual recognition of type evaluation
covers non-complex electronic weight indicating elements,
electronic non-computing bench and floor scales up to
500 kilogram capacity (or up to 1,000 pounds), and weighing/load-
receiving elements with capacities up to 500 kilograms (or up to
1,000 pounds).  Other device types will be added following
satisfactory implementation of the program.

     According to Carroll S. Brickenkamp, chief of the NIST
Office of Weights and Measures, the U.S./Canada Mutual
Recognition of Type Evaluation Program was initiated by a work
group with representation from OWM, U.S. and Canadian device
manufacturers, four U.S. NTEP-participating laboratories and
Canada's LMB.

     Brickenkamp and Robert Bruce, director of Weights and
Measures for Canada, agreed to keep procedures for the program to
a minimum.  The program allows the staff of the type evaluation
laboratories in either country to perform type evaluations to the
common and unique requirements of both countries.  A single type
evaluation will satisfy the type evaluation requirements of both
countries.  On the basis of the evaluation test results, the
United States will continue to issue its own Certificate of
Conformance and Canada its Notice of Approval.

     Plans call for extending the U.S./Canada Mutual Recognition
Program to other devices and to include Mexico under the North
American Free Trade Agreement, Brickenkamp notes.

     NTEP is a cooperative partnership with NIST, state
governments, NCWM and commercial measuring device manufacturers.
Since 1986, nearly 1,400 Certificates of Conformance have been
issued for prototype commercial devices and components that meet
legal metrology standards at federal and state levels, such as
load cells (tested by the NIST Force Group), turbine and mass
flow meters, measurement software, retail motor fuel dispensers,
railroad and truck scales, and cash registers.

     Measurement devices used for commercial exchange of
commodities or services by weight or measure may not be offered
for sale until national approval is granted that the performance
and design of the device meet minimum criteria.  For example,
supermarkets and grain elevators in the United States purchase
commercial scales from a list of potential suppliers whose
products have an NTEP certificate.

     The U.S./Canada Mutual Recognition of Type Evaluation
Program is expected to be adopted as a statement of policy by
weights and measures officials at the 79th Annual Meeting of
NCWM, July 17-21, 1994, in San Diego, Calif.

     NCWM, a standards-writing organization of more than 3,500
state, county, and city weights and measures enforcement
officials and associated business, federal and consumer
representatives, receives technical support from NIST, a non-
regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's Technology
Administration, through OWM.

                                  - 30 -

NOTE TO EDITORS:  For information on the 79th Annual Meeting of
the National Conference on Weights and Measures, July 17-21,
1994, in San Diego, Calif., contact NCWM, P.O. Box 4025,
Gaithersburg, Md. 20855, (301) 975-4012, fax:  (301) 926-0647.