• industries, particularly high technology ones, cannot operate;

• trade is impaired by disputes, and the Single Market cannot be successfully implemented;

• health care becomes empirical, and legislation (consumer protection, protection of workers / of the environment) cannot be successfully implemented.

The objectives of the programme are:

• to improve the competitive position of all sectors of European industry (including in particular SMEs) by promoting better measurements at the research and development levels, better definition and control of the quality of products, more efficient in-process measurements and technical assistance to the mutual recognition of certificates in accordance with the Global Approach to Conformity Assessment;

• to promote research and other technical support necessary for the development and implementation of other Community policies (Single Market, environment, agriculture and fisheries, food, health, transport and protection of the Community's external frontiers);

• to promote research in support of the activities of CEN, CENELEC, ETSI and other European bodies which seek to maintain or establish quality standards via either new and existing written standards or codes of practice;

• to support the further development of the European measurement infrastructure by facilitating the coordination of national activities, the development of measurement standards, of advanced methods and systems and the mutual recognition of results and accreditation;

• to promote the dissemination and application of good measurement practice throughout Europe, particularly in the less favoured regions (for example, by the organisation of training courses and by the establishment of networks).