Irish times today: Last Updated: 11/09/2007 13:14 Irish pint safe after measured EU move
The Irish pint is safe after the European Commission announced a policy U-turn today. The European Union executive said Irish and British pubs may go on serving beer in pints after 2009, when such measures were due to be phased out. It also said Britain may continue to use miles on road signs and speed limits, and to weigh gold in troy ounces. Moreover, grocers will be allowed to display weights in pounds and ounces alongside metric measurements indefinitely. Since 1995, goods sold in Europe have had to display metric weights and measurements. Ireland ditched miles and adopted kilometres in the mid-1990s, despite retaining right-hand drive cars and driving on the left. After consulting industry and consumers, the commission gave an indefinite reprieve from the legal obligation to use metric units for milk in returnable bottles and beer and cider on draught in response to widespread public hostility. "This proposal . . . honours the culture and traditions of Great Britain and Ireland, which are important to the European Commission," EU Enterprise Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said in a statement. Mr Verheugen said the commission's proposal, which must be rubber-stamped by member nations, would also help trade with the United States by extending indefinitely the right to use dual measurement in labelling in the metric and imperial systems. "We're not abolishing metric. We're just saying imperial can be used alongside metric," spokesman Ton van Lierop said. However, land area will no longer be registered in acres since neither Ireland nor Britain uses the measurement officially. © 2007 ireland.com
