As of 1st January, 2015, the UAE will implement the International System of Units (SI) replacing foot, inch and yard with metre in the textile trade under the national system of measurement and calibration, the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) announced on Wednesday.
In a press release on the eve of the mandatory system coming into effect in official transactions, Abdullah Al Muani, Acting Director General of ESMA, said the conversion of unit sales used in textile trade is an important step towards unifying the units of measurement used in the UAE, making these consistent with the SI.
He added that the new system was approved by Cabinet’s Decree No. 31 of 2006, which states in Article VIII that the SI units will be the exclusive basis of the legal units of measurement in the country.
The ESMA top official demanded that fabric and textiles suppliers and merchants must comply with the new system by using the metre as a unit instead of the yard. ”The new system is part of ESMA’s efforts to protect consumers’ rights and ensure better practices as per approved standard specifications in order to stimulate economic growth,” he said.
He emphasised that ESMA, along with other market monitors, will follow up to ensure that textiles suppliers and traders comply with the system.
The shift to metre, he noted, followed the UAE’s introduction of litre instead of gallon as a unit of measurement for fuel in 2010. The new move, he added, is part of the efforts to build in the UAE infrastructure based on international best practices in order to fulfil the requirements of World Trade Organization – Technical Barriers to Trade (WTO-TBT).
Source : WAM News Agency for United Arab Emirates
