Mike Joy wrote: >So as I understand it, no-one was *told* what to do in the >UK re packaging - it just happened through necessity.
The short answer is: UK producers are sometimes told what sizes to use. The longer answer is: All countries fix sizes. For example, the US does not permit the sale of 700 ml bottles of spirits but this is the standard size of spirit bottle in the EU. Similarly Canada does not permit 187 ml bottles of wine (permitted in the US). The EU, US and Canada would not permit the sale of a 800 ml bottle of wine. UK law on package size is a complicated mishmash of legacy regulations with amendments of amendments. Some products have controlled sizes and some do not. Most, but not all, imperial regulation sizes were soft converted to metric units e.g. 454 g. Size ranges were then either hard metricated, or had hard metric values interleaved into the range. Thus you will find the following package size regulations in the UK: 1. Imperial-only sizes (unmetricated) e.g. includes 1 pint (milk in returnable bottles). Draught beer is not 'packed' but it must be dispensed in pint sizes and metric sizes are forbidden. 2. Imperial-only size (soft metricated) e.g. includes 454 g (honey, jam, marmalade, jelly). Metric sizes for these products are not permitted from UK producers, but bizarrely are permitted from foreign producers within the EU (following the 'Cassis de Dijon court ruling). 3. Metric-only size ranges e.g. includes 500 g (butter). 4. Dual system size ranges e.g. includes 454 or 500 g (milk, coffee). 5. Unregulated sizes e.g. (yoghurt, frozen meals)
