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BATAS PAMBANSA BILANG. 8BATAS PAMBANSA BLG. 8 - AN ACT
DEFINING THE METRIC SYSTEM AND ITS UNITS, PROVIDING FOR ITS
IMPLEMENTATION AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Section 1. Adoption of the metric system. — Effective January
one, Nineteen hundred and eighty-three, the metric system (SI) as
defined herein, shall be the sole measurement system to be used in the
Philippines for all products, commodities, materials, utilities,
services, and commercial transactions, in all contracts, deeds and
other official and legal instruments and documents, in accordance with
the provisions of Presidential Decree Numbered One hundred eighty-seven
as amended by Presidential Decree Numbered Seven hundred forty-eight
and this Act and their implementing rules and regulations.
Sec. 2. Definition of the metric system. — For the
purpose of this Act, the term "Metric system" means the international
System of Units, or SI in brief, as established by the General
Conference of Weights and Measures and as interpreted or modified by
the Metric System Board, established pursuant to Presidential Decree
Numbered One hundred eighty-seven, as amended by Presidential Decree
Numbered Seven hundred forty-eight, hereinafter referred to as the
Board, to suit Philippine conditions.
Sec. 3. Definition of other terms. — For purposes
of this Act:
a. "Unit" means a value, quantity or magnitude, in
terms of which other values, quantities or magnitudes are expressed.
b. "Base Unit" means a well-defined unit which by
convention is regarded as dimensionally independent.
c. "Derived Unit" means a unit that is formed by
combining base units and/or supplementary units according to the
algebraic relations linking the other corresponding quantities.
d. "Supplementary Unit" means a unit which is neither
a base nor a derived unit.
e. "Standard" means a physical embodiment of a unit.
f. "National Standard" means the primary standard of
the country.
g. "Measurement" means quantitative expression of the
state of phenomenon or matter such as length, mass, time, electric
current, temperature, light intensity, surface area, volume, velocity,
acceleration, force, pressure, work, power, beat, angle, and others.
Sec. 4. Definitions of base units of the metric
system. — For purpose of this Act:
a. The base unit of length shall be the metre, which
is the length equal to 1 650 763.73 wavelengths in vacuum of the
radiation corresponding to the transition between the levels 2p 10 and
5d 5 of the krypton 86 atom.
b. The base unit of mass shall be the kilogram, which
is equal to the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram,
made of platinum-iridium, the standard of which is kept at the Bureau
of International Weights and Measures at Sevres, France.
c. The base unit of time shall be the second, which
is the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding
to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state
of the cesium 133 atom.
d. The base unit of electric current shall be the
ampere, which is that constant current which, if maintained in two
parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular
cross-section, and placed one metre apart in vacuum, would produce
between these conductors a force equal to 2 x 10 -7 newton per metre of
length.
e. The base unit of the thermodynamic temperature
shall be the kelvin, which is the fraction 1/273.16 of the
thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water.
f. The base unit of luminous intensity shall be the
candela, which is the luminous intensity, in the perpendicular
direction, of a surface of 1/600 000 square metre of a blackbody at the
temperature of freezing platinum under a pressure of 101 325 newtons
per square metre.
g. The base unit of amount of substance shall be the
mole, which is the amount of substance of a system which contains as
many elementary entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilogram of carbon
12. When the mole is used, the elementary entities must be specified
and may be atoms, molecules, ions, electrons, other particles, or
specified groups of such particles.
Sec. 5. Definitions of supplementary units of the
metric system. — For purposes of this Act:
a. The supplementary unit of a plane angle shall be
the radian, which is defined as the plane angle between two radii of a
circle which cut off on the circumference an arc equal in length to the
radius.
b. The supplementary unit of solid angle shall be the
steradian, which is defined as the solid angle which, having its vertex
in the center of a sphere, cuts off an area of the surface of the
sphere equal to that of a square with sides of length equal to the
radius of the sphere.
Sec. 6. National standards for metric units. — a.
For the purpose of deriving the value of the base units, the National
Institute of Science and Technology shall establish and maintain
national standards of these units with the concurrence of the Board for
certification by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, when
necessary.
b. For the purpose of deriving the value of the
second the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical
Services Administration shall establish and maintain the national
standard for the second, with the concurrence of the board.
Sec. 7. Implementation. — a. The Board shall take
charge of the implementation of this Act, promulgate and enforce such
rules and regulations as may be necessary for the effective use of the
metric system including rules of usage, metric conversion tables and
factors, metrication programs and weights and measures.
b. In order to enhance nationwide awareness of metric
conversion by the people and all sectors of society and facilitate the
necessary adjustments to the exclusive use of the metric system,
National Metrication Month shall be observed in November of each year
until Nineteen hundred and eighty-three. The Board shall manage
appropriate activities, including the preparation, production and
nationwide dissemination of informative materials about the metric
system and conversion.
c. The Board shall continue in existence and exercise
its powers and functions under Presidential Decree Numbered One hundred
eighty-seven, as amended by Presidential Decree Numbered Seven hundred
forty-eight, until the end of Nineteen hundred and eighty-four.
Positions in the technical staff and secretariat of the Board shall be
considered highly technical or confidential and the Board shall provide
appropriate incentives for the recruitment, maintenance and high level
performance of highly qualified personnel, subject to the provisions of
the Presidential Decree No. 985.
Sec. 8. Penalties. — Any violation of the
provisions hereof, or the rules and regulations promulgated pursuant
hereto, shall, upon conviction, subject the offender to a fine of not
more than One Thousand Pesos or imprisonment for a term of not more
than one year, or both, upon the discretion of the Court. If the
violation was committed by a juridical person, the manager,
representative, director, agent and/or employee of said juridical
person responsible for the act shall be liable to the penalties
provided herein. If the offender is an alien, he shall be deported
after serving the sentence, without the need for further proceedings
for deportation.
Sec. 9. Funding. — The amount appropriated for the
Metric System Board for the first semester of 1979 included in the
General Appropriations Act for calendar year 1979 shall be used for the
implementation of this Act. Savings in the programmed appropriations
not exceeding Five Hundred Thousand Pesos of the Ministry of Trade and
the National Science Development Board may be used to support the
Board, subject to the provisions of Presidential Decree No. 1177, and
to the approval of the President.
Sec. 10. Repealing Clause. — The provisions of any
law, decree, order, rule and regulation which are inconsistent herewith
are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
Sec. 11. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect
upon its approval.
Approved: December 2,
1978.
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