Rules of Procedure presented below have been agreed at the first Meeting of the COOMET Committee held in Warsaw on November 13 and 14, 1991 and updated and amended at the 10th COOMET Committee meeting in Almaty on May 25 and 26, 2000 and at 12 COOMET Committee Meeting in Havana on 6-7 of May 2002.
They amend the description of the COOMET structure and activities which are part of the Memorandum of Understanding and have been adopted in accordance with Article 7 Section 5 of the Memorandum and should promote the effective solving of cooperation problems in the shortest time possible according to established procedures using modern information technologies and communication facilities.
1. MEMBERS OF COOMET AND MEMBERS OF COOMET COMMITTEE
- 1.1. From each State only one National Metrology Institution on behalf of which the Memorandum of Understanding has been signed, may be a Member of COOMET.
- 1.2. Each COOMET Member must inform the President of the name and address of its appointed Committee Member.
- 1.3.The Committee shall elect its President in open voting, by a simple majority of votes.
- 1.4. A COOMET Member not represented at two consecutive Committee meetings without giving the reasons for his absence shall be considered as having terminated its participation in COOMET.
2. COOMET PROJECTS
2.1. GENERAL
For each collaborative project a COOMET Project Form must be completed and sent to the Secretariat, which will arrange for its distribution to all Committee Members and to the appropriate head of relevant SC/TC. This will enable all COOMET Members to keep themselves informed of areas of possible cooperation providing them the opportunity to join a cooperation.
Three separate forms are available:
- - PROPOSED COOMET PROJECT FORM
- - AGREED COOMET PROJECT FORM
- - COOMET PROJECT PROGRESS/FINAL REPORT FORM
Proposals for COOMET collaboration projects may be presented at any time. The collection of Agreed COOMET Projects will represent the working program of COOMET.
The Committee Members will monitor the COOMET Projects to ensure they are in agreement with COOMET's aims and tasks and are conducted in accordance with the adopted procedures. The COOMET cooperation can be extended to involve institutions from non-Member countries in the projects provided the participants of the cooperation agree.
2.2. SUBJECT FIELDS
The Project should belong to one of the following subject fields:
- Acoustics, ultrasound, vibration;
- Electricity and magnetism;
- Flow measurement;
- Ionizing radiation and radioactivity;
- Length and angle;
- Mass and related quantities;
- Photometry and radiometry;
- Physical chemistry;
- Thermometry and thermal physics;
- Time and frequency;
- Reference materials;
- General questions concerning measurements (General metrology);
- Legal metrology;
- Accreditation and quality systems;
- Information and Information technologies;
- Training and rising proficiency level of experts;
- Improvement of COOMET activities.
2.3. PROPOSED COOMET PROJECT
The Proposer of a project shall fill in a form (Annex 1), and via the COOMET Committee member of his country he shall send it to the COOMET Secretariat. The COOMET Secretariat shall register the project and distribute the form to the head of relevant SC/TC as well as to all COOMET Committee members who will inform the Proposer and the COOMET Secretariat of their interest within a period of three months.
In case thet no further COOMET Member is interested in the fulfilment of the proposed theme, it can remain on the list of proposed projects for up to one year.
2.4. AGREED COOMET PROJECT
Agreed COOMET Project Forms, Annex 2, must be used when agreement has already bean reached between a number of partners to undertake a specific collaborative project. It is only through the completion of this Form that COOMET Members will be advised of the agreement in question.
The Working Group set up for accomplishing the project shall be composed of the persons stated in the Form. The Coordinator of the Working Group shall be responsible for keeping the relevant SC/TC informed of the progress of the project.
Once completed the Agreed COOMET Project Form should be sent by the Coordinator to the head of relevant SC/TC and to the COOMET Secretariat for distribution to the Committee Members and also for inclusion of the project in the COOMET Working Program and in the data base.
Should a modification e.g. of the composition of the Working Group or of the scope of the project be decided later, a revised Agreed Project Form shall be circulated.
2.5. COOMET PROJECT PROGRESS/FINAL REPORT
This Form, Annex 3, should be used by Coordinators for reporting the progress on Agreed COOMET Projects, once a year.
A Final Report must be prepared when a Project is completed.
In this Report the results obtained should be presented and possible applications stated. Comments on the advantages of undertaking the work collaboratively through COOMET would be useful.
The Final Report is not deemed as a publication of the work.
Collaborators are encouraged to publish their work through usual channels, mentioning it was undertaken as a COOMET cooperation.
The Coordinator should send completed Final Report Form to the head of relevant SC/TC and to the COOMET Secretariat.
2.6. CANCELLATION OF COOMET PROJECTS
According to suggestions of heads of SC/TC the COOMET Secretariat excludes projects from Working Programme, which are found to be unpromising and obsolete, however, retaining the information of such projects.
3. ANNUAL REPORTS ON THE COOMET BODIES ACTIVITIES
- 3.1 A coordinator of WG dealing with the agreed COOMET projects sends annually the intermediate progress report on the project to the head of relevant SC/TC till 31 of January.
The head of SC/TC can address coordinator of WG with a request to submit information on the progress with a certain project in a month time before the meeting of SC/TC.
3.3 Based on the reports of SC/TC the Chairmans of COOMET Structural Bodies prepare reports on the activities of their COOMET bodies and forward them to COOMET Secretariat and represent them at the COOMET Committee meeting.
- 3.4 Annual reports of the Chairmans of COOMET Structural Bodies established to fulfil specific tasks in the framework of COOMET, should have the following Sections:
- general characteristic of the cooperation in the respective field including information on specific works and projects being carried out and on the participants engaged in cooperation;
- results of the last meetings of SBC and subordinated SC/TC;
- review of the projects completed and information on the use of the results obtained;
- problems of cooperation with international and regional organizations in the respective field of cooperation;
- activities for the implementation of International Agreements (for instance, the Mutual Recognition Arrangement of national measurement standards and similar arrangements);
- information on a prospective place and date for the following meetings of SBC and subordinated SC /TC;
- proposals for resolutions of the COOMET Committee Meeting.
The total volume of the report should not exceed three to five pages.
- 3.5 COOMET Secretariat prepares Annual report on COOMET activities based on the reports, which are submitted by Structural bodies, and distributes it to the Committee Members before the Committee Meeting.
4. COMMITTEE MEETINGS / CONVOCATION AND PROCEDURE
- 4.1. The President will decide on the place and date of the Meeting, taking into consideration the proposals formulated by Committee Members during their last Meeting.
- 4.2. The President shall notify about the Meeting at least ten weeks in advance and also send the preliminary draft agenda with the request to inform the President within three weeks' time of their amendments and more precise definitions.
- 4.3. Delegates will be sent a draft agenda at least four weeks in advance of the Meeting.
- 4.4. The agenda shall be decided by the Committee at the beginning of the Meeting.
- 4.5. A quorum will be constituted by more than half the Committee Members.
- 4.6. The Committee will attempt to reach conclusions by consensus whenever possible. If a compromise cannot be reached, the different points of view shall be recorded in the minutes.
- 4.7. A draft report of the Committee Meeting shall be circulated by the Secretariat to all Committee Members within 3 month of the Meeting. In order to speed up the realization of the resolutions adopted at the Committee meeting, it is recommended to the COOMET Secretariat to prepare and distribute to the Committee Members the list of drafts of such resolutions at the end of the Meeting. Approval of the Minutes of relevant Committee meeting is effected through e-mail correspondence during 1 month after they were received from the COOMET Secretariat.
- 4.8. Between the Meetings the Committee can rise discussions on any questions by correspondence involving all Committee Members and also solve problems of cooperation at the Presidential Council, the meetings of which are convened by the President as required, but not less than once a year between the COOMET Committee Meetings.
- 4.9. Similar rules may be followed by all structural and working bodies of COOMET.
5. AMENDMENT OF RULES OF PROCEDURE
These Rules of Procedure can be amended only by a majority of at least half the Committee Members.
Annexes