How Much European Foodstuffs Do You Buy?

[Annie]

I doubt that much. However, for many I'll bet, this will be enough to make it less:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/22/nbook22.xml

Christopher Booker's Notebook

By Christopher Booker
Last Updated: 11:33pm BST 21/10/2006

US firms will fall foul of EU's metric obsession

An extraordinary row, involving major European and US industries, is blowing up over the European Commission's determination to make it illegal, in three years' time, for any products made in or imported into the EU to carry any reference to non-metric measures. Not only will this cost industries on both sides of the Atlantic billions of dollars and euros, but it is in direct breach of US federal law.

The Commission is so set on stamping out the hated non-metric system that, as of January 1, 2010, it is imposing a total ban on what it calls "supplementary indications" – ie any mention of inches, pounds or other non-metric units in advertising, labelling, catalogues, manuals and the like.
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What will become illegal, under directive 80/181, is the current freedom of choice whereby both systems can be used to assist understanding; as, for instance, where a supermarket or market stall puts "lbs" as well as kilograms; or where car tyres are identified in a mix of inches and millimetres and their pressures can still be legally measured either in bars or in pounds per square inch. (It will hardly promote safety when most British drivers haven't a clue how much air to put in their tyres and it becomes illegal for the pump to indicate the "psi" equivalent.)

In other words, any US company wishing to sell to the EU will have to set up separate inventories and warehousing to ensure that its products carry no reference to non-metric units. Any European firm wishing to sell to the US will not be allowed to refer at all to the units its American customers understand. This in itself will be illegal under the US Fair Trade and Packaging Act, which permits use of metric units only so long as they are accompanied by a US non-metric "translation".

Among the European trade associations protesting at the ban is Orgalime, which represents 130,000 companies in the manufacturing, electrical, electronic and metalworking sectors. Its plea that flexibility should be allowed to remain is backed by the top European business organisation, Unice. In the US similar protests have come from the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association.

Particularly hard hit will be the engineering, electrical and electronics sectors, which face an enormous technical problem in disentangling the hotch-potch of metric and non-metric units that govern their production. Countless anomalies will arise, as in motor racing, which relies on a mass of components not made and labelled exclusively in metric. When Formula One races are staged in Europe, will trading standards officials be hanging round the pit lanes to check whether every new plug, electronic chip or tyre has been labelled solely in metric terms?

On November 9 there is to be a meeting at the Department of Trade and Industry, at which a range of bodies, including the Tyre Industry Federation and food and drink manufacturers (along with the British Weights and Measures Association), will put the case for flexibility, to prevent what Unice calls "damage to market actors". But of course the DTI no longer has any power to decide. It can only plead in turn with our real government in Brussels, which has shown itself wholly immovable on this issue.

 

[Kagom]

What the fuck? How incredibly asinine and childish!

 

[Annie]

What the fuck? How incredibly asinine and childish!

I take it you are not well versed on the European Union?

 

[Kagom]

I take it you are not well versed on the European Union?

I thought that was apparent

But in all sincerity, something like this is really pathetic.

 

[Annie]

I thought that was apparent

But in all sincerity, something like this is really pathetic.

Well for starters, their 'proposed constitution' which did not pass, is over 400 pages long. Gives you some idea of what 'micro management' is about.

 

[Said1]

Lame. But still, we don't have both on all our products in this country. At least I don't think............

 

[Annie]

Lame. But still, we don't have both on all our products in this country. At least I don't think............

Isn't Canada on metric? Anything 'made in USA' is going to have both, in all likelihood.

 

[Said1]

Isn't Canada on metric? Anything 'made in USA' is going to have both, in all likelihood.

Yes. But not everything has 'both' on the lable. The Metric Commission is no more too.

 

[Mr. P]

Food Fight!
:food1:​

 

[onedomino]

This is the latest in a long string of invasive, trade-restricting, regulations IMPOSED by the socialist nannies in Brussels. Quiet...do you hear that distant sucking sound? The EU Parliament must be in session. Of course this is serious business, as the bogus EU harassment of Microsoft and now Intel, underlines. The real problem may lie with the effect that EU harassment has on small business. Large companies can often afford to adapt, although they become less competitive because of cost increases. Small companies may be driven out of business entirely. In the end, though, outrageous EU regulations are most onerous for European companies, making them less competitive internationally. Quick...name a European chip maker or software manufacturer. Having a hard time? So does business in the nanny wonderland. As intrusive as the EU is regarding trade issues, what we have mentioned here pales in comparison to the socialist vacuum machine known as Airbus. Unable to compete with Boeing head-up, Airbus has sucked billions of Euros from the pockets of European taxpayers. But socialist entities that do not need to compete to survive do not prosper in the stock markets, as is emphasized by BAE's recent decision to dump its 20 percent stake in Airbus.

 

[BaronVonBigmeat]

Wow, what a bunch of crap. They aren't just content to ban non-metric measurements in europe, which is stupid enough; they are actually going to stop european companies from selling goods to america with imperial units. My first gut reaction when I first started reading the article was, hmm this is just a sneaky way to enact protectionist measures against american goods. But it looks like the dumbass politicians are actually going to protect america against foreign goods, ha ha.

This reminds me of something else too. On other forums I will often argue with european socialists about the undesireability of having a federal department of education, or (etc.) done at the federal level. If government must do something, let's at least let states and local governments handle it at least. This opinion of course is treated as though it's moonbat lunacy by the euros. But then many of them live in countries that are rather smallish compared to american states. Your lavish welfare state seems to work well in Norway, you say? Well gee golly, maybe that's because your country only has 7 million people! Maybe as they hand more and more powers over to the faraway bureaucrats in Brussels, they will understand where I am coming from. The US federal government was originally supposed to be somewhat similar to the EU, an alliance of independent states, but look where that went. I hope they wake up before they hand over control of their militaries.

 

[fuzzykitten99]

i don't even understand what the big deal is about what companies use for weights and measures. Do they not have enough to do with their mandatory 4day work week/3day weekends? Obviously companies that rely on the US for a good chunk of their profits are going to suffer, and then where will the EU be? In the hole, then they will blame us because we refuse to change our ways for their convenience, and they will cry and whine and the liberals here will want to give them a lollipop and give in to their whining.

 

[no1tovote4]

Waaah... we have to see pounds and ounces!

:finger:

 

[theHawk]

Jeebus, what a bunch of Nazis.

 

[90K]

Face the EU blows!