Industry claims victory in battle over delay to metric-only labels in sight

Date: 14/01/1999

By Peter Chapman

INDUSTRY Commissioner Martin Bangemann is recommending a ten-year delay before manufacturers are forced to label goods sold in the EU exclusively in metric units, according to top industry sources.

The move to postpone implementation of the metric-only rule would end months of European Commission prevarication over the issue, which has left companies wincing at the multi-billion-euro costs of rushing through last-minute changes to their production lines.

"This is very much in line with our position," said Adrian Harris, deputy secretary-general of engineering lobby group Orgalime, which represents 100,000 firms with annual sales worth €840 billion. "We asked for a final extension of ten years."

However, a top aide to the Commissioner this week refused to confirm or deny that Bangemann was planning a ten-year delay, although he admitted that proposals had been sent for scrutiny by other departments. "It is still tricky," he said, adding: "I would not guarantee anything."

If confirmed, the postponement of the metric-only directive, which was originally due to take effect from the end of this year, will be welcomed by firms in sectors ranging from consumer electronics to perfumery.

They complained that they would not be able to set up two separate production lines, with goods destined for the EU market labelled with metric measurements and those intended for export to the US with imperial measurements, in time for the original December 1999 deadline.

"One of the things we have been screaming about to the Commission is that it needed to make a decision quickly," said Harris. "It is okay for consumer goods companies which can cope with having to change their production lines in six months, but some heavy machinery goods companies have to plan ahead for three to four years."

Firms were afraid that if the Commission did not come forward with a definite new time-scale for metric labelling before March, agreement on the proposal would be delayed until after the European Parliament elections in June. Industry leaders from EU and US companies added weight to calls for the ten-year delay at last autumn's Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. They pointed out that anything shorter would aggravate trade tensions between the EU and US in the wake of the ongoing transatlantic dispute over the Union's banana import regime.

Bangemann has long been frustrated by the failure of the US administration to follow up its commitments to move towards a metric system, which was originally promised back in the 19th century.

The Commissioner believes the American authorities are dragging their feet over switching to metric measurements, with the result that consumers are still used to seeing their goods described in US imperial units.

Bangemann originally favoured a sector-by-sector approach, with a shorter timetable for firms which could more easily adapt their production lines, and a delay of up to five years for others. But industry argued for a ten-year delay to give the US time to catch up.

"If we had a three- to five-year period, it would not be realistic," said Harris, who stressed that industry supported the introduction of the Système International d'Unités (SI), which uses measurements such as the metre, kilogram, mole and candela, when the decade comes to an end.

Bangemann's proposal is expected to be discussed by the full Commission early next month.