The Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM), located in Geel,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, is one of the seven institutes of the

Joint Research Centre The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's science and knowledge service which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to European Union (EU) policy. The JRC is ...

(JRC), a

Directorate-General Within the European Union, Directorates-General are departments with specific zones of responsibility, the equivalent of ministries at a national level. Most are headed by a European Commissioner, responsible for the general direction of the Dir ...

of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

(EC). The IRMM promotes a common and reliable

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an measurement system in support of

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

policies. The institute works on the production and dissemination of quality assurance tools, such as validated methods, reference materials, reference measurements, interlaboratory comparisons and training in best practices and experience in all areas where IRMM is working. The institute was founded in 1957 under the

Treaties of Rome The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was sign ...

and started operation in 1960 under the name of the Central Bureau for Nuclear Measurements (CBNM). In 1986 the programme for a Community Bureau of Reference was announced. In 1993 the institute was renamed to reflect the new mission of the institute, which covers a wide range of measurement problems from food safety to environmental pollution. The IRMM has six core areas of competence: * Reference materials * Food analysis * Bioanalysis * Chemical reference measurements * Radionuclide metrology * Neutron physics

Other JRC sites

* Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU) * Institute for the Protection and the Security of the Citizen (IPSC) * Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) * Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP) *

Institute for Energy The Institute for Energy and Transport (IET) is one of the seven scientific Institutes of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), a Directorate General of the European Commission (EC). It is based both in Petten, the Netherlands and Ispra, Italy, and ha ...

(IE) * Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS)

References

External links

Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements
(IRMM)

{{authority control Standards organisations in Belgium European Commission Research institutes in Belgium Science and technology in Europe International research institutes Nuclear technology in Belgium Organisations based in Antwerp Province Geel

Other JRC sites

See also

References

External links