National Conference on Weights and Measures

The National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to developing and regulating the United States technical standards for weights and measures. The organization's official mission is to advance a healthy business and consumer climate through the development and implementation of uniform and equitable weights and measures standards using a consensus building process.

The first Weights and Measures Law was signed on March 2, 1799 by John Adams. NCWM found its beginnings when a meeting of the states was held in 1905 to discuss challenges faced in regulating weights and measures. The outcome was an agreement to meet again the next year and the association took form in an effort to bring stakeholders together to set national standards for voluntary adoption and implementation by the states. Annual meetings have been held every year with the exception of 1909, 1917, 1918, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, and 1948. NCWM will hold its 101st Annual Meeting in July 2016 in Denver, Colorado.

From 1905 to 1957, the Director of the National Bureau of Standards served as Chairman of NCWM. Beginning in 1958, NCWM members elect a state or local weights and measures official each year as its chairman. The National Bureau of Standards, later named the National Institute of Standards and Technology, continued to manage meetings and membership until 1997 when NCWM formed a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit corporation. From 1998 to 2008, NCWM contracted management services through a private company. In 2008 the Board of Directors hired the first NCWM employee as Executive Director who in turn hired additional staff and opened offices later that year in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The various model standards adopted by NCWM are published annually by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in NIST Handbook 44: Specifications and Tolerances and Other Technical Requirements for Weighing and Measuring Devices, NIST Handbook 130: Uniform Laws and Regulations and NIST Handbook 133: Checking the Net Contents of Packaged Goods.

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