Whether or Not to Utilize the Proposals in the “Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement?”

An analysis is given of the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (henceforth referred to as the Guide) and of the report EURACHEM: Quantifying Uncertainty in Analytical Measurements, Version 6 which is based on the Guide. Particular attention is devoted to considering the basic proposals of the Guide according to which the idea of “error” is abandoned and the new idea of “uncertainty” is introduced in its place. The contradictory nature of a whole range of its provisions is considered. In a number of examples taken from the Guide it is shown that its concept is inapplicable to the system of providing for the unity of measurements which relies on the centralized reproduction of the units of physical quantities and the transfer of their quantitative determination. Spheres of application of this conception following its revision are proposed.