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(BIPM) The standards body that ensuresworld-wide uniformity of measurements and their traceabilityto the International System of Units (SI). The BIPM isbased in France and operates with the authority of theConvention of the Metre, a diplomatic treaty between fifty-onenations. It operates through a series of committees, whosemembers are the national metrology laboratories of the memberstates of the convention, and through its own laboratory work.The BIPM carries out measurement-related research. It takespart in, and organises, international comparisons of nationalmeasurement standards, and it carries out calibrations formember states.BIPM Home (http://www.bipm.org/).