Besides, the purpose of the National Metrology Laboratory was to establish the national standards which would be in line with the international standards because the use of different standards would very likely cause disputes in international trade. During the era of the National Bureau of Standards, establishing a metrological instrument calibration center was proposed. However, restricted by the regulation demanding every civil servant to pass the associated examination before assuming their positions, we were not allowed to directly hire professional personnel, some of whom were not even qualified to take the examination. Besides, our lackluster wage system also did not appeal to the talents. Therefore, during the era of Li Guo-ding, this business was assigned to the Industrial Technology Research Institute, which eventually established the National Measurement Laboratory (NML), building up standards consistent with those of the world, and setting a reference basis that allowed the domestic metrological instruments to be calibrated. But this part was not stipulated in the early version of "The Weights and Measures Act". So, the mission of NML was defined through an amendment of the Act. In addition, many products had been packaged with a specific quantity, volume or weight. Since it involved fairness of trade, it was necessary to specify their tolerance according to the category they belonged to. Therefore, this was also taken into consideration in the amendment. Besides, the employment system of metrology surveyors was involved in this amendment as well, in order to clearly define the expertise required for the personnel conducting the inspection, calibration and manufacturing of metrological instruments.
The framework of the current Weights and Measures Act is a result of the large-scale amendments in 2002
