End in sight to fears over metric labels

Date: 09/12/1999

By Peter Chapman

MEPS and member states are poised to rubber-stamp European Commission plans to delay implementation of EU proposals to switch to metric-only labels within weeks, ending months of uncertainty for industry.

Member states gave their tacit support to the idea of postponing the date by which manufacturers will be forced to label goods sold in the EU exclusively in metric units more than a year ago, following intense lobbying by firms in the EU and US through the influential Transatlantic Business Dialogue.

But the crisis which engulfed the Santer Commission at the beginning of 1999 and the disruption caused by the European Parliament elections in June fuelled industry fears that the promised legislation would not be ready in time.

The metric-only rules were originally due to come into force from January next year, and companies feared that delays in tabling formal proposals to postpone the measure would force them to rush through last-minute changes to production lines to comply with the original deadline.

But industry is now confident that the delay will be formally approved early in the new year following a vote in the Parliament next week, which will pave the way for governments to endorse the plan in January.

The decision to delay the measure came after industry on both sides of the Atlantic warned that it would impose enormous and unnecessary burdens on firms as huge swathes of US industry have yet to make the long-promised transition from Imperial to metric measures.

Implementation of the new rules next month would have forced EU firms and their American counterparts to set up separate production lines to ensure goods intended for export to the US and EU, respectively, were labelled with the appropriate measurements.

MEPs and Member States are poised to rubber-stamp European Commission plans to delay implementation of EU proposals to switch to metric-only labels within weeks, ending months of uncertainty for industry.