From the end of 2024, the British Government was planning to impose a requirement for goods to carry a new UK-only UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) mark. Manufacturers who used to need only a conformité européenne (CE) mark for all European countries would have had to meet separate safety standards for the UKCA mark just for the UK and a CE mark for the rest of Europe. After opposition from industry, the Government has backed down and decided to allow the European Union’s CE mark for the UK market indefinitely in a nod to the need for common standards. Will the Government accept the same logic for the use of the common global measurement system known as SI, the modern metric system?
Continue reading “Government accepts CE mark indefinitely in nod to common standards”Tag: products
Why do so few Britons use kg for body weight?
Britons tend to use grams and kilograms for a lot of things, including cooking recipes, gym equipment, commercial products and retail sales. However, they predominantly use stones and pounds for weighing adults and children and use pounds and ounces for weighing babies. Few use kg despite the fact that the NHS uses kg internally for body weight and BMI calculated by body weight in kg divided by height in metres squared. And despite the large number of everyday basic food products you can find in supermarkets that come in 1 kg packages.
Continue reading “Why do so few Britons use kg for body weight?”Micro metric measurements in everyday products
SI is capable of measuring anything from the tiniest particles to the largest objects in the universe. While it may sound technical and scientific, there are practical benefits of tiny measurements in some everyday products. Here, Ronnie Cohen takes a look.
Continue reading “Micro metric measurements in everyday products”Does metric-only labelling require changes to package sizes?
An argument made against metric-only labelling in the US is that manufacturers would need to change packaging to rational metric sizes. Ronnie Cohen looks at the UK’s experience over the past 50 years.
Continue reading “Does metric-only labelling require changes to package sizes?”
How US labelling requirements undermine honest labelling in the UK
On EU product labels, metric units are mandatory whereas non-metric units are optional. On US product labels, both metric and US customary (USC) units are mandatory for most products. So a company that wants to sell a product in the EU and the US must use metric and USC on the label unless it produces separate labels for the two markets.
Continue reading “How US labelling requirements undermine honest labelling in the UK”
Metric Views 