17 December 2008
UK to keep pint measurement
UPFRONT, news, night online, COMMENTS
A European parliamentary decision today will allow for the use of pints as the official measure of beer in the UK and Ireland.
The decision was carried without a second reading in the Strasbourg chamber, granting an indefinite extension to the UK's obligation to change to a metric system - previously the UK was required to finalise a transition date by the end of 2009.
The decision allows milk bottles and draught beer to be sold as pints and road signs to continue to be marked in miles.
The vote has been welcomed by the trade, not least because the UK's major imperial trading partner is the United States.
EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen called the parliamentary decision "good news for the people in the UK and Ireland who prefer to use pints and miles as current practices will remain in place."
"Today's agreement will also ensure that imperial measurements can be indicated alongside metric - a measure that will lower costs for industry by allowing them the same labelling for their exports, whether in the EU or elsewhere in the world."
Not all imperial measurements will survive, however. The acre, traditionally defined as the amount of land that an ox can plough in one day, is to be scrapped. To ease this difficult transition, especially for members of the greenfield music festival industry, we remind you that one acre is 40 per cent of a hectare.
From: Night Online
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