The Imperial Bureau of Standards of the Galactic Empire included multiple bureaucratic departments including Weights and Gauges, Redundancy, Verification and the Fuel Purity. Syril Karn joined the Bureau, serving in Fuel Purity, in 5 BBY after his uncle Harlo's intervention.
The Imperial Bureau of Standards maintained an office on Coruscant employing thousands of civilian employees tasked with observing and enforcing the bureaucratic regulations of the Galactic Empire throughout the galaxy. Its members were assigned to different Departments, including but not limited to the Weights and Gauges, Redundancy, Verification and the Fuel Purity, in which Syril Karn secured an unexceptional office job. Employees of these departments would monitor Imperial proceedings around the galaxy and report any discrepancies to the Bureau's , which was in turn closely monitored by the Imperial Security Bureau that had agents on standby to intervene if any crimes were suspected.
Syril Karn worked in Fuel Purity, one of the various departments of the Imperial Bureau of Standards.
The Imperial Bureau of Standards had been established and operating by 5 BBY, maintaining an office in a Coruscant skyscraper. Syril Karn's uncle Harlo had close relations with a Bureau supervisor, Flob, a connection Eedy Karn would exploit to get her son a job in the company's Coruscant office. Obsessed with Cassian Jeron Andor, the fugitive who cost him his career, once hired in the Fuel Purity Department Karn used Bureau resources to report him six times as a missing fuel specialist, an unresponsive energy engineer and a fuel purity field officer suspected of forging Imperial reports. These reports were flagged and led to ISB Supervisor Dedra Meero's intervention, who called Karn in for questioning in the ISB Central Office. Karn revealed the discrepancies in her predecessor's review regarding Andor, and as a reward Meero provided him with a clean record which granted him a promotion within his Department.
Concept art of the Fuel Purity department by Peter McKinstry and Luke Hull
The Imperial Bureau of Standards was first pictured in the sizzle reel for the Andor television series released on December 10, 2020. It first appeared in "Announcement," the seventh episode of the series, which aired on October 19, 2022. It was first identified in that episode's guide on StarWars.com.
Tony Gilroy and the other writers used the Imperial Bureau of Standards to suggest the large scale of the Empire. Concept artist Peter McKinstry and production designer Luke Hull created a sketch of the Fuel Purity department in the office on Coruscant. The sketch included two droids that look similar to IT-O Interrogation Units.