BRUSSELS, Belgium — The European Parliament voted Thursday to allow Britain and Ireland to keep some of their old imperial measurements so pubs can still serve pints and road signs can show miles instead of kilometers.
European Union rules drafted in 1999 aimed to phase out the imperial measures by 2009, but the EU’s executive body decided in September on a U-turn in the face of public opposition. The decision is expected to be confirmed at a meeting of governments from the 27 EU nations.
Britain and Ireland, like almost all countries around the world, officially use the metric system, but imperial measures are often still used alongside metric counterparts.
Campaigners in Britain resisted moves to introduce the metric system, hitting headlines in 2001 when a vendor was convicted for refusing to sell bananas by the kilogram. A counter campaign argues that the old measures hamper trade.
According to the U.S. Metric Association, the U.S., Liberia and Myanmar are the only three countries that have not officially adopted the metric system.
