The Units of Measurement Regulations 1994

Made: 6th November 1994

Coming into force in accordance with regulation 1

The Secretary of State, being a Minister designated[^f00002] for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 in relation to units of measurement to be used for economic, health, safety or administrative purposes, in exercise of powers conferred by that section and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:—

Citation and commencement

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Units of Measurement Regulations 1994 and shall come into force immediately after the coming into force of the Weights and Measures Act 1985 (Metrication) (Amendment) Order 1994[^f00003].

Interpretation

2

In these Regulations—

• “the Act” means the Weights and Measures Act 1985[^f00004]; and

• “the Regulations” means the Units of Measurement Regulations 1986[^f00005].

Amendment of the Regulations in 1994

3

• (1) On the coming into force of these Regulations the Regulations shall be amended as follows.

• (2) In Regulation 2, after the definition of “specified circumstances”there shall be inserted—

• “supplementary indication”has the same meaning as it has in section 8(5A) of the Act;

• (3) For Regulation 7, there shall be substituted—

(7) Supplementary indications are authorised to be used in the specified circumstances.

• (4) Regulation 10 shall be omitted.

Amendment of the Regulations in 1995

4

• (1) On 1st October 1995 the Regulations shall be amended as follows.

• (2) In Regulation 8, in paragraph (2), at the beginning there shall be inserted “Parts I to III of”.

• (3) The following paragraphs shall be added to Regulation 11—

(3) Subject to paragraphs (4) and (5) below, where a contract entered into before 1st October 1995 falls to be performed or to be performed partly on or after that date and the contract refers to a unit of measurement defined in Part IV of Schedule 3 to these Regulations, then, on and after that date, that reference shall (except where the unit is used otherwise than as a primary indication of quantity), be construed in the specified circumstances as a reference to the value set out in the appropriate column of that Schedule in relation to that unit; and accordingly any calculation that has under the contract to be made in those circumstances by reference to that unit shall instead be made by reference to that value. (4) Where a contract for which paragraph (3) above provides relates to any of the fields of application specified in Schedule 3A to these Regulations, any reference in the contract to a unit of measurement authorised by Regulation 13 of these Regulations for use in relation to that field is not required to be construed as that paragraph provides until 1st January 2000. (5) Where a contract for which paragraph (3) above provides relates to any of the fields of application specified in Schedule 3B to these Regulations, any reference in the contract to a unit of measurement authorised by Regulation 14 of these Regulations for use in relation to that field is not required to be construed as that paragraph provides.

• (4) After Regulation 11 there shall be added the following—

(12) Subject to Regulations 13 and 14 below, the units of measurement and their symbols and abbreviations specified in Part Iv of Schedule 3 to these Regulations are not authorised for use in the specified circumstances on and after 1st October 1995 (except as supplementary indications in accordance with Regulation 7). (13) The units of measurement specified in Schedule 3A to these Regulations are, together with their symbols and abbreviations, authorised for use on and after 1st October 1995, but before 1st January 2000, in the fields of application specified in relation to them in that Schedule. (14) The units of measurement specified in Schedule 3B to these Regulations are, together with their symbols and abbreviations, authorised for use on and after 1st October 1995 in the fields of application specified in relation to them in that Schedule.

• (5) For “(Regulation 8(2))” at the head of Schedule 3 there shall be substituted “(Regulations 8(2) and 12)”; for the heading of Schedule 3 there shall be substituted “UNITS OF MEASUREMENT WHICH ARE NOT AUTHORISED FOR USE IN THE SPECIFIED CIRCUMSTANCES EXCEPT AS SUPPLEMENTARY INDICATIONS”; and after Part III of Schedule 3 there shall be added the following—

Quantities, names of units, symbols, abbreviations and approximate values:

• (6) After Schedule 3 there shall be added the following—

SCHEDULE 3A

SCHEDULE 3B

Amendment of the Act in 1994

5

• (1) On the coming into force of these Regulations the Act shall be amended as follows.

• (2) In section 8 for subsection (5) there shall be substituted the following—

(5) The proceding provisions have effect subject to— (a) subsection (5A) below, and (b) sections 9 and 89 below. (5A) Nothing in this section precludes the use for trade of any supplementary indication; and for this purpose any indication of quantity (“the imperial indication”) is a supplementary indication if— (a) it is expressed in a unit of measurement other than a metric unit, (b) it accompanies an indication of quantity expressed in a metric unit (“the metric indication”) and is not itself authorised for use in the circumstances as a primary indication of quantity, and (c) the metric indication is the more prominent, the imperial indication being, in particular, expressed in characters no larger than those of the metric indication.

Amendment of the Act etc in 1995

6

• (1) On 1st October 1995 the Act shall be amended as follows.

• (2) In section 1 (units of measurement)—

• (a) at the beginning of subsection (1) there shall be inserted “Subject to subsection (6) below,”;

• (b) for subsection (4) there shall be substituted—

(4) Without prejudice to section 8(6)(b) below an order under subsection (3) above shall not remove the pint from Part IV of Schedule 1.

; and

• (c) after subsection (5) there shall be added—

(6) Subsection (1) above shall not have effect so as to authorise the use in the specified circumstances of— (a) the yard as a measurement of length, or (b) the pound as a measurement of mass, otherwise than in accordance with Regulation 7 of the Units of Measurement Regulations 1986 (supplementary indications) or, in the case of the pound, in accordance with section 8(2)(f)[^f00006] below (which permits the pound to be used for the purposes of the sale of goods loose from bulk). (7) In subsection (6) above “the specified circumstances”has the same meaning as in the Units of Measurement Regulations 1986, that is to say the circumstances specified in Article 2(a) of Council Directive No. 80/181/EEC as limited by the provisions of Article 2(b) of that Directive.

• (3) In section 3(2) (Department of Trade and Industry secondary standards) for “one gallon”there shall be substituted “8 pints”.

• (4) In section 27 (exemption from requirement to state quantity of goods sold in writing) in subsection (2)(a)—

• (a) in sub–paragraph (i) for “224 pounds”there shall be substituted “110 kilograms”; and

• (b) in sub–paragraph (ii) for “five gallons”there shall be substituted “25 litres”.

• (5) In Schedule 1 (definitions of units of measurement)—

• (a) in Parts I and II the entries for imperial units shall be omitted;

• (b) in Part IV—

• (i) the definitions of the gallon, quart and gill shall be omitted; and

• (ii) for the definition of the pint there shall be substituted—

PINT = 0.568 261 25 cubic decimetre.

; and

• (c) for Part VI there shall be substituted the Part VI set out in the Schedule to these Regulations.

• (6) In Schedule 5 (transactions in solid fuel)—

• (a) in paragraph 9(a) for “224 pounds”there shall be substituted “100 kilograms”; and

• (b) in paragraph 28(1)(a) for “224 million pounds”there shall be substituted “101,600 tonnes”.

• (7) In Schedule 11 (transitional provisions and savings)—

• (a) for paragraph 25 there shall be substituted—

(25) In any of the following, namely— (a) any byelaw made under paragraph 5 of Schedule 6 to the 1963 Act (including that paragraph as extended to wood fuel by paragraph 4 of Part IV of Schedule 7 to that Act), (b) any byelaw made under paragraph 2 of Part IV of Schedule 7 to that Act, and (c) any byelaw made under any enactment repealed by that Act, where the byelaw is continued in force by virtue of paragraph 5(2) of Schedule 6 to that Act, references to a ton, half a ton, two hundredweights, a hundredweight, a quarter or a stone (or to the equivalent number of pounds in the case of each of those quantities) shall be construed as references to 1000, 500, 100, 50, 15 or 7.5 kilograms respectively.

; and

• (b) after paragraph 25 there shall be added—

(26) Where any byelaw to which paragraph 25 above applies contains a requirement not only to mark a price clearly and legibly but to mark it in figures of at least three inches in height, the reference to three inches shall be construed as a reference to 7.5 centimetres.

• (8) In any of the following namely—

• (a) any byelaw made under paragraph 9 of Schedule 5 to the Act (including that paragraph as extended to wood fuel by paragraph 14 Schedule 6 to the Act); and

• (b) any byelaw made under paragraph 12 of Schedule 6 to the Act,

references to 1120, 224 or 14 pounds shall be construed as references to 500, 100 or 7.5 kilograms respectively; and where any such byelaw contains a requirement not only to mark a price clearly and legibly but to mark it in figures of at least three inches in height, the references to three inches shall be construed as a reference to 7.5 centimetres.

Amendment of the Act in 2000

7

• (1) On 1st January 2000 the Act shall be amended as follows.

• (2) In section 1(6) (inserted in section 1 by regulation 6(2)(c) above) the words after “(supplementary indications)”shall be omitted.

• (3) In Schedule 1—

• (a) in Part IV—

• (i) for the heading “ Imperial units”there shall be substituted “ Imperial unit”;and

• (ii) the definition of the fluid ounce shall be omitted;

• (b) in Part V—

• (i) for the heading “ Imperial units”there shall be substituted “ Imperial unit”;

• (ii) the definitions of the pound and the ounce shall be omitted; and

• (iii) for the definition of the ounce troy there shall be substituted—

OUNCE TROY = 0.031 103 476 8 kilogram.

• (c) in Part VI—

• (i) after the definition of the gill there shall be inserted—

Fluid ounce = 1/20 pint.

; and

• (ii) after the definition of the stone there shall be inserted—

POUND = 0.453 592 37 kilogram. Ounce = 1/16 pound.

• (4) In Schedule 11 in paragraph 17 the following shall be omitted—

• (a) in sub–paragraph (1)(b) “stones, quarters, hundredweights or tons,”; and

• (b) sub–paragraph (2)(a) and “or”immediately following it.

SCHEDULE — NEW PART VI OF SCHEDULE 1 TO THE WEIGHTS AND MEASURES ACT 1985

PART VI — Definitions of certain units which may not be used for trade except as supplementary indications

Signed

Ferrers — Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Small Firms, — Department of Trade and Industry — 6th November 1994

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations implement the amendments made by Council Directive 89/617/EEC (OJ No. L357, 7.12.89, p.28) to Council Directive 80/181/EEC (OJ No. L39, 15.2.80, p.40) (“the Directive”) which relates to the use of units of measurement for economic, public health, public safety or administrative purposes (“the specified circumstances”).

They end, in general, the authorised use, in the specified circumstances, of the imperial units of measurement most commonly used to describe length, area, volume and mass (such as the yard, pint and pound) after 30th September 1995. They do however provide certain exceptions which permit the continued use of these imperial units for specific purposes beyond that date. For example, there is an exception for the pint for draught beer and cider and for milk in a returnable bottle.

These Regulations amend the Units of Measurement Regulations 1986 (“the 1986 Regulations”) and the Weights and Measures Act 1985 (“the Act”).

The Act is also amended to reflect the requirements of the Directive by the Weights and Measures Act 1985 (Metrication) (Amendment) Order 1994 (S.I. 1994/2866) which should be read in conjunction with these Regulations in order to see how the Act’s provisions as a whole are amended in implementation of the Directive.

The 1986 Regulations consolidated previous Regulations which implemented both the provisions of the Directive before its amendment by Directive 89/617/EEC and those of its predecessor, Council Directive 71/354/EEC (OJ No. L243, 29.10.71, p.29).

As a result of the amendments made to the 1986 Regulations by these Regulations, the use of those commonly used imperial units referred to above ceases to be authorised in the specified circumstances except where they benefit from a derogation. Details of these derogations are given in the new Schedules 3A and 3B which Regulation 4(6) adds to the 1986 Regulations.

One significant amendment made by these Regulations to the Act is made by Regulation 6(5)(c) which amends the Act so as to make unlawful for use for trade those commonly used imperial units referred to above by placing them in Part VI of Schedule 1 to the Act (see the Schedule to these Regulations). They may however continue to be used as supplementary indications which accompany indications of quantity given by means of metric units.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1972 c. 68.

[^f00002]: S.I. 1976/897.

[^f00003]: S.I. 1994/2866.

[^f00004]: 1985 c. 72.

[^f00005]: S.I. 1986/1082.

[^f00006]: Section 8(2)(f) is inserted in the Act by article 3(2) of the Weights and Measures Act 1985 (Metrication) (Amendment) Order 1994 (S.I. 1994/2866).