	Background

The United States remains the only major industrialized country in which a nonmetric measurement system is predominantly employed. Section 5164 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 ( P.L. 100-418 ). Other legislation in the 104 th Congress sought to amend the Metric Conversion Act. This provision would have repealed the provision of the Metric Conversion Act which requires federal agencies to use the metric system in their procurements, grants, and other business-related activities.
The United States remains the only major industrialized country in which a nonmetric measurement system is predominantly employed. Section 5164 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-418) amended the Metric Conversion Act to require federal agencies to use the metric system in their activities. Legislation in the 104th and 105th Congress limits federal metric conversion activities, particularly in instances where states, local governments, and the private sector may be required to convert to the metric system in order to participate in federally funded programs.