The EC has published a proposal for a Directive COM (2007) 0510 final of the European Parliament & of the Council amending Council Directive 80/181/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to units of measurement. Under the original Directive the UK, & in some cases Ireland, would have needed to fix a date for ending imperial sales where they are still being applied (pint for milk in returnable bottles & beer and cider on draught). The EC has now accepted that these usages are local, without any impediment to cross-border trade. Accordingly, the UK will be able to maintain its exemptions for sales of the products in question in imperial quantities without time limit. It will also be allowed to continue to permit supplementary imperial indications as had already been announced to the European Parliament.
