Welcome, Victor! Nice to have you aboard. I think the next big step here in the States for metrication will come from the appearance of many products sporting metric-only labeling. This will happen when the revised UPLR is adopted by the last 2 states (New York and Alabama) and when the FPLA is amended to allow metric-only labeling.
How advertising and shelf labels will be affected remains to be seen. I suspect that in most stores the shelf labels will show metric only if the product has only metric on its label. But the change-over will be gradual unless a new Democratic administration and Congress decide that new investments in infrastructure, green technologies, etc. We'll just have to wait and see ... Ezra -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "Victor Jockin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Hi, I'm Victor, a new USMA member. Anyone have a sense of whether this > concession by the EU is likely to succeed in pressuring the US to allow > optional metric-only labels? Or is opposition from food retailers > impossible to overcome? > > If that measure passes in the US, it seems to me like it would be one of the > most important breakthroughs in the history of metrication in this country. > The story would likely not make the news, and consumers would not notice > much right away. But I could see metric-only labels slowly increasing in > use over a period of years, and eventually, perhaps, a tipping point would > be reached. To me, that tipping point could be when supermarkets start to > adopt metric units on their unit price-comparison shelf labels, which would > go a long way toward getting the public to think in terms of liters and > grams. Right now, at least at my local market (Von's in the LA area), they > use traditional units on shelf labels even for wine, which is all metric on > the bottle. > > Victor Jockin > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Norman & Nancy Werling" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > Sent: 02/21/2008 11:53 AM > Subject: [USMA:40474] Re: EU Metric Directive > > > > Gene & USMA members, > > > > It is no surprise that the USA and, to a lesser extent, the UK and Ireland > > are certainly the "culprits" requiring, or at the very least,causing the > > accommodations shown on page 6/7 of the EC's web link. > > > > Norm Werling > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > > Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 12:14 > > Subject: [USMA:40472] EU Metric Directive > > > > > >>> EU Metric Directive (80/181/EEC) Status: > >>> > >>> In September 2007, the EC published a proposal to > >>> modify the Metric Directive to indefinitely allow > >>> industry to use supplementary units along with > >>> metric units. On November 29, 2007, the European > >>> Parliament voted in favor of the European > >>> Commission's proposed amendments to the EU Metric > >>> Directive (which includes an indefinite extension to > >>> supplementary indications, > >>> > >>> > http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+REPORT+A6-20 > 07-0430+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN). > >>> I understand that the Council has to vote next,... > >> > >>> Whether or not this latest proposal will be adopted > >>> is still uncertain,... > >> > >>> Additional resources can be found at: > >>> ec.europa.eu/enterprise/prepack/unitmeas/uni_ms_en.htm > >>> ... > >>> contact Ms. Ann Ngo, Office of > >>> the European Union, Market Access & Compliance/ITA, > >>> U.S. Department of Commerce (see below), who is the > >>> DoC-EU Metric Directive point of contact. Ms. Ngo > >>> maintains an email list and periodically distributes > >>> EU Metric Directive/FPLA updates. > >> > >>> Ann Ngo > >>> Office of the European Union > >>> Market Access & Compliance > >>> International Trade Administration > >>> U.S. Department of Commerce > >>> (202) 482-0010 > >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >> > >> Elizabeth Gentry provided the above information, which I have edited to > >> delete lines of less relevance to the USMA. > >> > >> Gene. > >> > >> > > > > >
