Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 80/181/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to units of measurement
Date: 2008-11-19
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, approximation of laws, international standard, measuring equipment, weights and measures

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 19.11.2008 
COM(2008) 785 final 

2007/0187 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty 

concerning the 

common position of the Council on the adoption of a proposal for a Directive of the 
European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 80/181/EEC on 
the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to units of measurement 

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2007/0187 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty 

concerning the 

common position of the Council on the adoption of a proposal for a Directive of the 
European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 80/181/EEC on 
the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to units of measurement 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date  of  transmission  of  the  proposal  to  the  EP  and  the  Council
(document COM(2007)510– 2007/0187(COD): 

10 September 2007 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

12 December 2007 

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: 

29 November 2007 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

N.A. 

Date of political agreement (Agriculture Council, A-point) 

 15.07.2008 

Date of adoption of the common position (Council): 

 18.11.2008 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL 

Directive 80/181/EEC harmonised within the European Union the legal units of measurement 
for expressing quantities, in accordance with the “International System of Units” (SI) adopted 
by the General Conference of Weights and Measures set up by the Metre Convention signed 
in Paris on 20 May 1875. 

The  Directive  ensures  a  common  approach  on  the  basis  of  Article  95  of  the  EC  Treaty, 
removing thus the barriers to trade within the Internal Market due to units of measurement in 
line with international standards.  

The proposed modification of Directive 80/181/EEC intends to continue the current practice 
by:  

–  Permitting indefinitely the use of supplementary indications. This will ensure a continued 
application  of  the  current  practice  and  will  allow  continuing  flexibility  as  regards  non-
metric  units  when  no  metric  units  exist,  e.g.  binary  measurements  in  computing  (bits, 
bytes).  

–  Including  the  new  SI  unit  for  catalytic  activity  (the  “katal”),  adopted  by  the  General 

Conference on Weights and Measures. 

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–  Allowing the United Kingdom and Ireland to continue the limited exemptions concerning 
specified uses of the pint, mile and the troy ounce, considering absence of impact of these 
exemptions  on  cross  border  trade  and  the  principle  of  subsidiarity;  whilst  repealing  the 
exemption for the use of acre for land registration which is no longer applied. 

–  Clarifying  the  scope  of  the  Directive  to  be  fully  in  line  with  the  existing  Treaties  by  no 

longer mentioning specific fields to which the Directive is applicable. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION 

3.1 

Overall remarks on the common position 

The  Council  supported  the  Commission’s  proposal  on  condition  of  a  number  of  technical 
changes  reflecting  developments  in  international  standards  relating  to  units  of  measurement 
and a clause on reporting, and review if needed, after 10 years. 

3.2 

European Parliament amendments included in full, in part or in principle in the 
amended  proposal  and  incorporated  in  full,  in  part  or  in  principle  in  the 
common position  

There were no amendments by the European Parliament. 

3.3 

European  Parliament  amendments  not  included  in  the  amended  proposal  and 
not incorporated in the common position 

There were no amendments by the European Parliament. 

3.4 

Changes to the original proposal introduced by the Commission in the amended 
proposal and incorporated in the common position 

There was no amended proposal. 

3.5 

Other modifications introduced by the Council common position compared with 
the original proposal 

In  the  common  position  the  following  points  have  been  introduced  to  the  original  proposal. 
These are primarily technical in nature. 

Delete the last words “on a permanent basis” of recital 3. 

Change ‘would’ to ‘could’ in recital 4 and renumber to recital 6. 

Renumber recitals 5, 6 and 7 to recitals 8, 10 and 12 respectively.  

Add recital 7 and Article 1(5)(b), (c) and (d) in order to adapt the definitions of ‘radian’ and 
‘steradian’ and to include them under article 1(5)e reflecting the elimination of supplementary 
indications from the international SI system in line with the international standard agreed in 
1995. 

Add recital 9 and Article 1(5)(a) in order to actualise the definition of Kelvin in line with the 
international standard agreed in 2007.  

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Add recital 11 and in Article 2.1, first paragraph, cross out the words “and a correlation table 
between  those  provisions  and  the  Directive”  thereby  repealing  the  requirement  to  Member 
States to provide correlation tables. This change is subject to a Commission declaration, see 
under point 5 below. 

Add recital 4, stressing the importance of promoting the SI-system, and recital 5, indicating 
the interest of the EU to opening up third markets for only SI-labelled products. Both recitals 
motivate the added Article 1(4) concerning a clause on reporting, and review if needed, to be 
followed up by the Commission by at the latest 2019. 

Renumber  Articles  1(4)(a),  1(4)(b)  and  1(4)(c)  to  Articles  1(5)(e),  1(5)(f)  and  1(5)(g) 
respectively.  

Article 1(4)(a) (renumbered as Article 1(5)(e)) retakes the whole of Annex, Chapter I, points 
1.2.2 and 1.2.3 with as only changes: 

–  Change of the title of point 1.2.2 from “SI derived units” to “General rule for SI derived 

units”. 

–  Insertion in the table under point 1.2.3 of two new first lines  for  ‘radian’  and  ‘steradian’ 
(see point above adding recital 7) as well as the originally proposed line for ’katal’ at the 
end.  

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission supports the common position. 

5. 

DECLARATION BY THE COMMISSION  

As regards the provision by Member States of correlation tables, the Commission has made a 
declaration to CORPEPER on 12.12.2007 as follows: 

Commission Declaration Re Recital 6a and Article 2.1 

“The Commission recalls its position concerning the creation by Member States of correlation 
tables linking the transposition measures taken by the Member States with the directive, in the 
interest  of  citizens,  Better  Regulation  and  transparency  and  to  assist  the  examination  of  the 
conformity of national rules with Community provisions.  

In this instance, the Commission does not stand in the way of an agreement at Council with a 
view to the successful conclusion of the inter-institutional procedure on this file. However, it 
expects this horizontal matter to be considered jointly by the institutions.”  

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