The Appeal Court ruled against the self-styled “Metric Martyrs” earlier today [Monday], and the UK Metric Association (UKMA) says it is now time for the Government to stand up to its responsibilities to the British public.
EU regulations have meant that since 1 January 2000, loose goods such as unpackaged meat, fruit and vegetables should be labelled and weighed in metric units. The five traders dubbed “Metric Martyrs” refused to follow the legislation and have been prosecuted for not using metric scales.
It is possible, however, that the traders will now take their case to the House of Lords.
The UKMA welcomed the ruling cautiously. Director Chris Keenan says: “This case has highlighted the concerns of the UKMA about the consumer’s right to price transparency when buying loose goods and confirms the need for a government lead on the use of metric units.
“However, we take no pleasure at seeing these market traders prosecuted.
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By GlobalData“Had a well-planned and implemented quick transition happened […] this case might never have happened. Now is the time for the Government to stand up to its responsibilities and to educate the public on using the metric system in everyday life. Furthermore current regulations need to be significantly cleaned up to be more consumer-friendly.”
Changing units of measurement can be problematic for the public, and the UKMA argues that successive UK governments have introduced the metric system “in the worst possible way”.
In other Commonwealth countries such as Australia, a successful transition to the metric system was achieved within a short space of time. This was due, says the UKMA, to a combination of careful planning with all stakeholders involved, a relatively short timescale with a clear M-day for changeover and an effective public education program.
In Britain, meanwhile, metrication has taken place “at a snail’s pace with virtually no public education”.
The UKMA point out that “using kilograms and grams is fundamentally easier than using stones, pounds and ounces; after all who knows their 14- or 16-times multiplication tables? Yet many British consumers lack an intuitive feel for metric weights although they probably have been used to buying fruit juices and wine in litres for over a decade”.
“Public information and education has been invisible,” it argues, and home economist & food writer Roz Denny points out “no advice has been given even on simple issues such as shopping for loose produce in kilos, how much meat in metric per head, how to calculate roasting in minutes per kilo”.
“Similarly, recipes and cooking advice should reflect that packaged food is sold in units of 250g/500g/1kg or 500ml/1 litre. Crazily, milk is still sold as 568ml and 1.13litres although fruit juice and mineral water are in 1litre sizes and have been for many years.”
The UKMA adds that the implementation of metric regulations in the UK has “apparently followed the lowest standard required to fulfil EU directives rather than being what is best for the British consumer”. Regulations on advertising and price labelling are ill-defined and “the result is public confusion and the real possibility of the public being ripped-off”.
The UKMA is calling for the government to redress the problems. Specifically it argues the need for a holistic public education programme showing how to use the metric system in everyday life; more specific regulations on labelling and advertising goods; and cooperation between the government and the media to ensure that consumer news reporting and cookery programmes, for example, support the transition to the metric system.