This was reported in The Times, on the same day, in an article entitled, Pounds and ounces return in victory for metric martyrs, in the following terms: “Review EU restrictions on selling in pounds and ounces – We will review the EU ban on markings and sales in imperial units and legislate in due course.” A short statement on weights and measures is included: What few proposals there are have a general theme of removing consumer protections, or otherwise appear to be plans to change for the sake of change, seemingly to deliberately create divergence from common standards that we have previously agreed with our European neighbours. The Government’s response to the TIGRR report, entitled Brexit opportunities: regulatory reforms, could be described as a solution in search of a problem. In what has previously been described by some, misleadingly, as “taking back control” of our laws from unelected bureaucrats, it is ironic that a statement, that included the Government’s plans for weights and measures legislation, was delivered in the unelected House of Lords by the unelected Minister of State, Lord Frost, on Thursday. This is a principle that has been with us since Magna Carta. The best way to maximise consumer protection has always been for every trader to use the same system of weights and measures. Any ability of traders to choose different weights and measures from their competitors will always adversely affect a consumer’s ability to compare prices, and thus leave them open to unfair practices. In order to protect consumers, the UK, and the vast majority of other countries around the world permit the use of only one system of weights and measures for trade. This assessment of Weights and Measures law is of course misguided. It was reported in some newspapers as announcing the return of pounds and ounces.Īs previously reported by Metric Views, in June this year, the Government’s Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform (TIGRR) had recommended the return of imperial weights and measures, citing the inability of traders to choose which measurement system they use as being “an example of overly prescriptive EU regulation”. Yesterday, the Government published its response to the so-called TIGRR report.

United kingdom regress to measures