Newsletter

CECIP Newsletter Q4 2020

Dear readers, 

2020 is about to end and I think everyone would agree it has been an interesting year. Of course, the obvious impact of the COVID-19 pandemic made it at times difficult for the European weighing industry. Also CECIP was impacted in several ways such as being forced to organise our General Assembly for the first time, successfully I should say, as online meeting. Despite the difficulties, I’m glad to see that the CECIP work has continued relatively smoothly due to the flexibility and efforts from all members. We carried on with our work by providing input the initiatives from the European Commission, OIML and WELMEC. Moreover, it created new opportunities to bring together various stakeholders to discuss the important topics of the future during two webinars. Our plan is to continue with these types of events to keep the discussions going. 

For CECIP the year was also special because of a number of personal changes. In 2020 we appointed new Presidents of the International Cooperation Group (ICG) and Business & Trade Group (BTG) and I started in my role as CECIP President. Luckily, we are in a luxurious position of taking over a well-run CECIP and working groups from our predecessors. I would like to thanks once more Urs Widmer, Richard Herbert and Roland Nater for their invaluable contributions to CECIP.  

For the future, I’m confident the ICG President Luis Cachón and new BTG President Juan Román will lead these groups to new successes with their own ideas and energy. There are already some exciting plans for the next year. You will hear more details in the coming months and I’m looking forward to working on these new initiatives and to continue with our existing work in 2021.  

However, before starting with the work of 2021, I think we all deserve some holidays. Therefore, I want to wish you all a merry Christmas and a healthy and happy Year. 

Kind regards, 

Nick Parsons 

CECIP President  

CECIP discusses data security in legal metrology

On 3 December CECIP organised a webinar with key stakeholders to discuss the possible approach to ensure data security in the weighing industry. The digital transformation increases the transmission of data by weighing instruments. Since certain data is sensitive or there might be an interest to manipulate data this will require measures to secure the data transmitted. During the webinar around 90 participants listened to the speakers Bobjoseph Mathew (METAS & OIML), Paul Turner (NSAI), Ulrich Rauchschwalbe (Schenck Process) and Nick Parsons (Minebea Intec & CECIP President) presenting their view on the measures that could be taken. They all provided their ideas based on their experiences from different angles. After the presentations the audience had the opportunity to ask questions as well. The presentation of the webinar can be found here.

CECIP provides comments on R76

OIML Recommendation 76 on non-automatic weighing instruments is one of the key recommendations for the European weighing industry. It is practically copied in the harmonised standard EN 45501, making it essential for many instruments to comply with the European legislation. Recently the first working document as part of the revision of the recommendation was published. CECIP made use of the opportunity to provide comments on the technical details of the recommendations that were submitted.

A paper on some general issues to be considered in the revision was developed by CECIP as well. It includes several comments on solving problems from the last years and potential issues for the future. For example, CECIP calls on OIML to make the revised recommendation ready for the digital future. It is most important that there is the right balance between flexibility to innovate, while ensuring consumer protection. CECIP also fully supports a part on reverification that could improve harmonisation in this area.

Preparing the weighing industry for Brexit

The end of the Brexit transition period is getting closer and it is still unclear if there will be an EU/UK trade deal. Irrespective of that result there will be an impact on the European weighing industry. For example, it will be necessary in the future to have an UKCA mark on the weighing instruments placed on the market in the UK instead of the CE mark. Moreover, UK type-approvals will be necessary to place weighing instruments on the Great Britain market. Further clarifications have been published by the UK government on the use of these UKCA markings and other aspects. The links of these guidance documents can be found below:

• Conformity assessment bodies: change of status from 1 January 2021
• Using the UKCA mark from 1 January 2021
• Placing manufactured goods on the EU market from 1 January 2021
• Placing manufactured goods on the market in Great Britain from 1 January 2021

Furthermore, the European Commission published a wide range of documents in the last year to prepare companies for the end of the transition period as well. These can be found here.