(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission has dropped its attempt to ban Imperial weights and measures in the face of British opposition, an EU spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The news was hailed in England by Neil Herron, campaign director of the Metric Martyrs Group.

"It has been people power that has forced the European Commission and the (British) government to abandon the enforced metrication programme," he said. "We have saved the pint, the mile, the yard, the foot as well as pounds and ounces."

A European Commission press officer told AFP that the decision to maintain the "supplementary indications" indefinitely was given to a European parliamentary committee last week.

The term "supplementary indications" is eurospeak for allowing imperial measurements -- pounds, ounces, pints etc -- to be used alongside metric ones.

"The result of public consultations was that there were a number of stakeholders arguing for maintaining the supplementary indications," she said.

Under law in the 27-member bloc, the use of the Imperial measures, used by Britain, was supposed to end in 2009.

However EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen "said that he was going to draw the logical conclusion and come forward with a proposal that would in simple terms grant an indefinite extension," to the use of Imperial measures, said the spokeswoman.

Herron, a former fishmonger, said it had been a criminal offence specifically to trade in pounds and ounces under a EU directive of 2000, but added that "this decision will really make that law unworkable".

He added that the decision may be linked to the idea of a "transatlantic economic partnership" between Europe and the United States.

"The acknowledgement of imperial measures may be linked to (last) Monday's EU/US summit in Washington where both sides agreed to strive for a common transatlantic market, described as the biggest deregulation move in history. Trade is currently worth 2.25 trillion euros (3.05 trillion dollars) a year."

Herron said that papers released to his group, under Britain's Freedom of Information Act, by the Department for Trade and Industry also indicate that the government in London has "performed a screeching U-turn... and abandoned plans to abolish Imperial measures after 2009."

Herron and Steve Thoburn, a fellow trader in northeast England, were first targeted by the British authorities back in 2000.

Thoburn died of a massive heart attack in 2004 days after learning that his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, against a conviction for using non-metric scales in his greengrocer's shop, had been rejected.

Herron is planning to press for a posthumous pardon.

The news of the policy change has also been welcomed by Euro MP Giles Chichester, who said he had received confirmation from Verheugen last week that "dual marking" of goods in imperial and metric will 'continue indefinitely'.

Text and Picture Copyright 2007 AFP. All other Copyright 2007 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.