Laboratoire national de métrologie et d'essais

The French Laboratoire national de métrologie et d'essais (National Laboratory of Metrology and Testing) is a reference laboratory responsible for carrying out measurement and testing products of all kinds for their certification for placing them on the market.

When the Metre Convention was signed in Paris in 1875, it was at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (CNAM) that the main verifications of weights and measures attributed to foreign governments were carried out, as they adopt the metric system.

This laboratory was established within the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts symbolizing the union of science and industry.

One of its first vocations was also reaffirmed by a decree of August 11, 1936, which attached to it the deposit of national standards of the metric system,[5] it would also participate in the establishment of the thermometric scale, the specifications of which had been enacted at the 1927 General Conference on Weights and Measures.

In 1955, the test laboratory moved into a new building which became its new head office, rue Gaston-Boissier, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.