Makes you wonder what the motivation is for the overprecision. <???> As Jim mentioned, under normal circumstances a manufacturer would want to reduce label clutter and make the package look more attractive. Or if you believe the conspiratorialists, they might want to make it look more cluttered to build a case for dispensing with metric. But then there's always the path-of-least-resistance: a) the law says they must include metric, b) they don't understand metric, c) they include a handbook translation they're sure is in compliance, and d) their butt is covered.
With time they realize less sig-figs and they're still in compliance. Nat > Nat Hager III > >This may have inadvertently provided incentive for the > >over-precise rounding in SI declarations. > > > The FPLA mandated 'not more than' 2 decimal places, then it became 'not > more than' 3 decimal places. Now it is: 'should be' 3 significant > figures. > > Thus I 'should' write '454 g' but I am permitted to write '453.5924 g > > > http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fpla/basis_jan1994.html > > > > >
