The European Parliament agreed a measure on Tuesday, December 16 allowing British citizens to continue to use their familiar weights and measurements, overriding a previous plan to require the elimination of remaining Imperial units in Britain by the end of 2009.

Britain has been converting to the metric system of its own accord since 1965, long before it joined the EU. But some Imperial measurements remain in common use, most notably miles and yards on road signs. The EU had previously called on Britain to switch to metric signs by 2009 - a decision postponed several times. Ireland's road signs went metric in 2005, making Britain the only EU country not to use kilometers.

EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said the decision was "good news for the people in the UK and Ireland who prefer to use pints and miles, as current practices will remain in place."

While most British packaging allows only metric units, 568-milliliter pints are allowed for milk and beer for historical reasons - as they are in Ireland. But the rationale behind the decision was as much economic as cultural.

"Today's agreement will also ensure that imperial measurements can be indicated alongside metric - a measure that will lower costs for industry by allowing them the same labeling for their exports, whether in the EU or elsewhere in the world," Verheugen said.

The United States, which is a major European trading partner, is another country notoriously hostile to the metric system.

Acres, though, have to go

The decision - which means that, sobriety permitting, British citizens are still free to drink six pints and then drive 10 miles back home - came as welcome news to perennial Euroskeptic British conservatives.

"The [British] government may be eager to scrap the pound as our currency, but at least we can say we have saved it indefinitely - as a measurement at any rate," British Conservative MEP Giles Chichester told the dpa news agency.

But what applies to beer and beef does not pertain to land.

The "acre," which is no longer used to register landing either Britain or Ireland, will be discontinued, the European Parliament ruled.