Metric Conversion Act

The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 is an Act of Congress that was signed into law by U.S. President Gerald Ford on December 23, 1975.^[1] It declared the metric system "the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce", but permitted the use of United States customary units in all activities. As Ford's statement on the signing of the act emphasizes, all conversion was to be "completely voluntary".^[1] The Act also established the United States Metric Board with representatives from scientific, technical, and educational institutions, as well as state and local governments to plan, coordinate, and educate the U.S. people for the Metrication of the United States.

Metric Conversion Act of 1975

Long title	An Act to declare a national policy of coordinating the increasing use of the metric system in the United States, and to establish a United States Metric Board to coordinate the voluntary conversion to the metric system
Acronyms (colloquial)	MCA
Nicknames	Metric Conversion Act of 1975
Enacted by	the 94th United States Congress
Effective	December 23, 1975
Citations
Public law	94-168
Statutes at Large	89 Stat. 1007
Codification
Titles amended	15 U.S.C.: Commerce and Trade
U.S.C. sections created	15 U.S.C. ch. 6, subch. II § 205a et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 8674 by Olin E. Teague (D–TX) on July 16, 1975 Committee consideration by House Science and Technology Committee Passed the House on September 5, 1975 (308-71) Passed the Senate on December 8, 1975 (passed, in lieu of S. 100) with amendment House agreed to Senate amendment on December 11, 1975 (agreed) Signed into law by President Gerald Ford on December 23, 1975

The Metric Board was abolished in 1982 by President Ronald Reagan, largely on the suggestion of Frank Mankiewicz and Lyn Nofziger.^[2]

Executive Order 12770, signed by President George H. W. Bush on July 25, 1991, directed departments and agencies within the executive branch of the United States Government to "take all appropriate measures within their authority" to use the metric system "as the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce" and authorized the Secretary of Commerce "to charter an Interagency Council on Metric Policy ('ICMP'), which will assist the Secretary in coordinating Federal Government-wide implementation of this order."

See also

• History of the metric system
• Omnibus Foreign Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988
• US Metric Association

References

1. Ford, Gerald R. (December 23, 1975). "Statement on Signing the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 - December 23, 1975". Internet Archive. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Service. pp. 1996–1997.
2. Mankiewicz, Frank (2006-03-29). "Nofziger: A Friend with Whom It Was a Pleasure to Disagree". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on Dec 8, 2022.

Further reading

• "Getting a Better Understanding of the Metric System: Implications if Adopted by the United States" (PDF). U.S. GAO ~ CED-78-128A. U.S. Government Accountability Office. October 20, 1978. OCLC 5051893.
• "Metric Conversion: Future Progress Depends Upon Private Sector and Public Support" (PDF). U.S. GAO ~ RCED-94-23. U.S. Government Accountability Office. January 13, 1994. OCLC 29747342.
• "Highway Signs: Conversion to Metric Units Could Be Costly" (PDF). U.S. GAO ~ RCED-95-156. U.S. Government Accountability Office. July 7, 1995. OCLC 32988136.

External links

• Metric Conversion Act of 1975 as amended (PDF/details) in the GPO Statute Compilations collection
• Metric Conversion Act of 1975 as enacted (details) in the US Statutes at Large