According to National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the US and EU have resolved the protracted transatlantic trade issue concerning labelling of products imported to the EU. An EU Council Directive (80/181/EEC) which prescribes the units of measurement for use in the EU should be of the International System of Units (SI) or metric system whenever a quantity is noted on any product imported to the union. The deadline to the implementation of the directive was dated as 1 January 2010. The indefinite relaxation of the norms to this directive means that the US will have less pressure to comply with it abruptly.
The EU is the largest market for the US products, and the decision will help the US businesses to continue trade with the EU. However, under the US Fair Packaging and Labelling Act (FPLA), household consumer commodities and food, cosmetics, medical devices and other products that fall under the jurisdiction of either the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should be dual-labelled in metric and the US customary units.
The products which are not regulated by the FPLA that come under the particular state regulations mostly conform to the UPLR (Uniform Packaging and Labelling Regulations) system. The latest revision to the UPLR mandates just metric labelling, and it is expected that all states will gradually comply with the new system. But then, adoption of the new system by all may take a very long time, the indefinite extension to metric labelling by the EU will reduce pressure on reluctant states.
NAM Senior Director of International Business Policy Shaun Donnelly stated the NAM had been working on this challenge for more than two decades and any delay to the decision would have had a telling effect on the US exports. Annual trade with the EU is estimated at $200bn. Donnelly commended the EU for its constructive stance since the US exporters transition from dual-labelling to metric would have been a gargantuan task which involved huge costs and labour.
The pre-emptive measure by the EU to ward off any uncertainty over labelling before the deadline is understood to provide ample time for manufacturers to adopt the new labelling model. An indefinite extension to abide by the metric labelling system is likely to help businesses in the US, Europe and other parts of the world, especially in a time the world is teetering under global economic crisis.