National measurement Laboratory situated in Colombo is equipped with standard equipment to achieve the optimum required accuracy in measurements used in trade, industry, and other related fields. The accepted role of the national measurement laboratory is to establish primary standards traceable to international standards and demonstrate the accuracy of established standards through participation in regional and international inter comparisons. In practice it is difficulty for a developing country to possess national standards traceable to international level for all units of measurements. However there must be a sufficient number of standards which have demonstrated credibility and traceability to engender international confidence so that our products are exported to international markets with no trade barriers related measurements.

For the purpose of realization of national standards for mass, length, temperature, time & frequency, electrical standards are maintained under stipulated conditions at National Measurement Laboratory.

Improvement to National standards

In 1975 Sri Lanka acquired one copy of standard kilogram calibrated by International Bureau of Weight and Measures. Since then the department improved calibration facilities gradually by establishing other primary standards.

Today the department has established national standards for electrical, time and frequency measurements. There is an increasing demand from the industry for calibration of photometry and sound measuring equipment. More over there are specialized instrument used by specific industries. This is a vital industrial need and calibrating specialized industrial measuring devices using custom developed techniques would be a major activity of the department. However due to certain constraints only a part of this demand has been met .

During this period primary standards for electrical measurements were established by introducing Standards Resisters, Digital Multimeter , Timer Counter and necessary software to run the above equipment