Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: When did the UK adopt the metric system?
Adopting the metric system was discussed in Parliament as early as 1818 and some industries and even some government agencies had metricated, or were in the process of metricating by the mid-1960s. A formal government policy to support metrication was agreed by 1965. This policy, initiated in response to requests from industry, was to support voluntary metrication, with costs picked up where they fell. In 1969 the government created the Metrication Board as a quango to promote and coordinate metrication. In 1978, after some carpet retailers reverted to pricing by the square yard rather than the square metre, government policy shifted, and they started issuing orders making metrication mandatory in certain sectors. In 1980 government policy shifted again to prefer voluntary metrication, and the Metrication Board was abolished. By the time the Metrication Board was wound up, all the economic sectors that fell within its remit except road signage and parts of the retail trade sector had metricated.
The metric system was officially adopted in the UK, for most purposes, in the 20th century and both imperial and metric are taught in schools and used in books. It is now mandatory for the sale of food to also show metric. However, it is not uncommon to purchase goods which are measured and labeled in metric, but the actual measure is rounded to the equivalent imperial measure (i.e., milk labeled as 568 mL / 1 pint). In September 2007, the EU with Directive 2007/45/EC deregulated prescribed metric packaging of most products, leaving only wines and liqueurs subject to prescribed EU-wide pre-packaging legislation; the law relating to labelling of products remaining unchanged.
Whilst most countries in the world are using the metric system as their official system of weights and measures, some countries have not committed to adopting it, or have adopted it as their official system but have not completed the process of full metrication.
Some of the prefixes formerly used in the metric system have fallen into disuse and were not adopted into the SI. The decimal prefix "myria-" (sometimes also written as "myrio-") (ten thousand) as well as the binary prefixes "double-" and "demi-", denoting a factor of 2 and (one half), respectively, were parts of the original metric system adopted by France in 1795. These were not retained when the SI prefixes were internationally adopted by the 11th CGPM conference in 1960.
Two years later, after taking a poll of its members, the Confederation of British Industry informed the government that they favoured the adoption of the metric system, though some sectors emphasised the need for a voluntary system of adoption. The metrication programme in the United Kingdom was to have five phases: 
The metric system was officially introduced in France in December 1799. In the 19th century, the metric system was adopted by almost all European countries: Portugal (1814);[36] Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg (1820); Switzerland (1835); Spain (1850s); Italy (1861); Romania (1864); Germany (1870, legally from 1 January 1872);[56] and Austria-Hungary (1876, but the law was adopted in 1871).[32] Thailand did not formally adopt the metric system until 1923, but the Royal Thai Survey Department used it for cadastral survey as early as 1896.[57] Denmark and Iceland adopted the metric system in 1907.
Most countries have adopted the metric system officially over a transitional period where both units are used for a set period of time. Some countries such as Guyana, for example, have officially adopted the metric system, but have had some trouble over time implementing it.[3] Antigua and Barbuda, also "officially" metric, is moving toward total implementation of the metric system, but slower than expected. The government had announced that they have plans to convert their country to the metric system by the first quarter of 2015.[4] Other Caribbean countries such as Saint Lucia are officially metric but are still in the process toward full conversion.[5] In the United Kingdom the metric system is the official system for most regulated trading by weight or measure purposes, but some imperial units remain the primary official unit of measurement. As of 2018 the UK has only partially metricated.
As of the 21st Century, multiple unit systems are used all over the world such as the United States Customary System, the British Customary System, and the International System. However, the United States is the only industrialized country that has not yet completely converted to the Metric System. The systematic effort to develop a universally acceptable system of units dates back to 1790 when the French National Assembly charged the French Academy of Sciences to come up such a unit system. This system was the precursor to the metric system which was quickly developed in France but did not take on universal acceptance until 1875 when The Metric Convention Treaty was signed by 17 nations. After this treaty was signed, a General Conference of Weights and Measures (CGPM) was established. The CGPM produced the current SI system which was adopted in 1954 at the 10th conference of weights and measures. Currently, the United States is a dual-system society which uses both the SI system and the US Customary system.
During the nineteenth century the metric system of weights and measures proved a convenient political compromise during the unification processes in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. In 1814, Portugal became the first country not part of the French Empire to officially adopt a metric system. Spain found it expedient in 1858 to follow the French example and within a decade Latin America had also adopted the metric system. There was considerable resistance to metrication in the United Kingdom and in the United States, though once the United Kingdom announced its metrication program in 1965, the Commonwealth followed suit.
The UK Metric Association, or UKMA, is an advocacy group in the United Kingdom that argues for Metrication in the United Kingdom and aims to persuade the general public into its way of thinking about the metric system. UKMA argues that the continued use of two incompatible systems of measurement causes misunderstanding, confusion and mistakes, undermines consumer protection, wastes children's education, results in additional costs and is against the national interest.
The question of whether or not to convert British trade and industry to metric was the subject of a UK Government White Paper in 1951, itself the result of the Hodgson Committee Report of 1949 which unanimously recommended compulsory metrication and currency decimalisation within ten years. The report said "The real problem facing Great Britain is not whether to adhere either to the Imperial or to the metric system, but to maintain two legal systems or to abolish the Imperial." The report also recommended that any change should be done in concert with the Commonwealth (former Empire) and the USA, that the UK adopt a decimal currency and that the UK and US harmonise their respective definitions of the yard using the metre as a reference.
However, internationally, the metric system was eclipsing inch-based measurement units. In 1947, the ISO was founded; and in 1960, the metric-based International System of Units (abbreviated "SI" from the French "Système International") was created. With continental Europe and much of the rest of the world turning to SI and ISO metric screw thread, the UK gradually leaned in the same direction. The ISO metric screw thread is now the standard that has been adopted worldwide and is slowly displacing all former standards, including UTS. In the U.S., where UTS is still prevalent, over 40% of products contain at least some ISO metric screw threads. The UK has completely abandoned its commitment to UTS in favour of ISO metric threads, and Canada is in between. Globalization of industries produces market pressure in favor of phasing out minority standards. A good example is the automotive industry; U.S. auto parts factories long ago developed the ability to conform to the ISO standards, and today very few parts for new cars retain inch-based sizes, regardless of being made in the U.S.
In 1816, the Netherlands and France were the only countries in the world that were using variations of the metric system. By the late 1860s, the German Zollverein and many other neighbouring countries had adopted the metric system, so in 1869 the modern names were adopted ("Wet van 7 April 1869, Staatsblad No.57"). A few of the older names remained officially in use, but they were eliminated when the system was further standardised by the 1937 Act on Weights and Measures ("IJkwet"), though the "pond" is now used colloquially to mean "half" a kilogram.
During the next eighty years a number of Parliamentary select committees recommended the adoption of the metric system, each with a greater degree of urgency, but Parliament prevaricated. A Select Committee report of 1862 recommended compulsory metrication, but with an "Intermediate permissive phase"; Parliament responded in 1864 by legalising metric units only for 'contracts and dealings'.[40] The United Kingdom initially declined to sign the Treaty of the Metre, but did so in 1883. Meanwhile, British scientists and technologists were at the forefront of the metrication movement – it was the British Association for the Advancement of Science that promoted the CGS system of units as a coherent system[41]: 109 and it was the British firm Johnson Matthey that was accepted by the CGPM in 1889 to cast the international prototype metre and kilogram.[42]
The measurement was used until the time of the Portuguese Wars of Liberation in the 1830s when the country and the colonial empire adopted the metric system and in Brazil, when the country adopted the metric system. Not long after its adoption, along with other old units, traditional moios continued to be used.In Rio de Janeiro, an alqueiro equaled to 13.5 liters and 681 Parisian cubic inchesIn Porto, an Oportan alqueire equalled to 830 Parisian cubic inches and 16.462 litresConsidering the goods, there were measurements for them:
Metrication or metrification is the process of converting to the metric system based on the International System of Units (SI). India's conversion to the metric system occurred in stages between 1955 and 1962. The metric system in weights and measures was adopted by the Indian Parliament in December 1956 with the "Standards of Weights and Measures Act", which took effect beginning 1 October 1958. The "Indian Coinage Act" was passed in 1955 by the Government of India to introduce decimal coinage in the country. The new system of coins became legal tender on April 1957, where the rupee consists of 100 paise. For the next five years, both the old and new systems were legal. In April 1962, all other systems were banned. This process of metrication is called "big-bang" route, which is to simultaneously outlaw the use of pre-metric measurement, metricise, reissue all government publications and laws, and change education systems to metric.
The Metrication Ordinance was enacted in 1976 in Hong Kong. The law allowed a gradual replacement of the Imperial units and Chinese units of measurement in favour of the International System of Units Metric System. The adoption was facilitated under the government's Metrication Committee.
When this legislation was introduced, the metric system was beginning to take hold across Europe. Switzerland and the German state of Baden had both defined their "Fuß" (foot) as being 300 mm and the German state of Hessen-Darmstadt has defined its "Fuß" as being 250 mm. Moreover, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Lombardy and Venice had all adopted the metric system, albeit with local names for the "metre", "kilogram" and so on. The metric system was given a boost when the German "Zollverein" (Customs Union) introduced the "Zollpfund" of 500 g in 1850.
Although there was debate in Australia's first Parliament after federation to consider adopting the metric system, metric units first became legal for use in Australia in 1947 when Australia signed the Metre Convention (or "Convention du Mètre"). However, Imperial "Weights and Measures" were most commonly used until the Commonwealth government began the metric changeover in the 1970s. In 1960, SI units were adopted as a worldwide system of measurement by international agreement at the General Conference on Weights and Measures. The metre, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, candela and mole were defined as base units in this system and units formed from combinations of these base units were known as "derived units". SI units were subsequently adopted as the basis for Australia's measurement standards, whereby they were defined as Australia's legal units of measurement.
The International System of Units has been adopted as the official system of weights and measures by all nations in the world except for Myanmar, Liberia, and the United States, while the United States is the only industrialised country where the metric system is not the predominant system of units. There are 192 countries that predominantly use the metric system and 3 that do not.
This system is no longer in use since the adoption of the metric system in 1864.See:There were several variants. The Castilian is shown.In Sweden, a common system for weights and measures was introduced by law in 1665. Before that, there were a number of local variants. The system was slightly revised in 1735. In 1855, a decimal reform was instituted that defined a new Swedish inch as 1/10 foot. It did not last long, because the metric system was subsequently introduced in 1889. Up to the middle of the 19th century there was a death penalty for falsifying weights or measures.
Many sectors of the industry did agree to a programme coordinated by the Metrication Board, with metrication of pre-packaged goods being introduced on a commodity by commodity basis. In 1977 when a carpet retailing chain reneged on an industry-wide agreement to use metric units (carpeting at £8.36 per square yard being much more appealing to the customer than carpeting at £10.00 per square metre), it became necessary for the first time to use legislation to enforce metrication rather than to rely on a voluntary adoption of the system.[30][61]
The introduction of the metric system was a topic at the Fifth Commonwealth Standards Conference that was held in Sydney in 1962.[32] The following year a poll by the British Standards Institute (BSI) revealed that the majority of its members favoured a transition to the metric system and two years later (1965), after taking a poll of its members, the Confederation of British Industry informed the government that they favoured the adoption of the metric system, though some sectors emphasised the need for a voluntary system of adoption.[33][34]
History of the metric system – the metric system developed from a decimal system of measurement adopted by France after the French Revolution.
Most of the various feet in this list ceased to be used when the countries adopted the metric system. The Netherlands and modern Belgium adopted the metric system in 1817, having used the "mesures usuelles" under Napoleon and the newly formed German Empire adopted the metric system in 1871.