To make technical amendments to the American Technology Preeminence Act of 1991 and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act with respect to their treatment of the SI metric system.
Public Law 102-329 · H.R. 5343 · 102nd Congress · began in the House
Signed by George H. W. Bush (R) on Aug 3, 1992 · Science, Technology, Communications
Sponsor: Rep. George Brown (D-CA-36)
Cosponsors: None
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateVoice vote
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Amends the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act with regard to consumer commodities to: (1) refer to "weight or mass" (currently, only "weight") for quantity of contents labeling requirements; (2) permit labeling of contents in either inch-pound or SI metric measures (currently, SI metric is primary measure); (3) exempt foods packaged at the retail store level from the requirement that the statement of net quantity of contents include the SI metric measure; and (4) permit inch-pound or SI metric measurements to be carried out to three decimal places (currently, two decimal places for pound measures).
Repeals section 107 of the American Technology Preeminence Act of 1991.
Makes the labeling amendments under this Act effective as of February 14, 1994. (This was the effective date under section 107 of the American Technology Preeminence Act of 1991.) States that such amendments shall not: (1) apply to products with labels printed prior to such date; (2) apply to unit pricing, advertising, recipe programs, nutrition labeling, or other general pricing information; and (3) be construed to require package size changes.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 15 actions.
- Aug 3, 1992Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 102-329.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Jul 24, 1992PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Jul 22, 1992CommitteeCommittee · Discharged from Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
- Jul 21, 1992FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
- Jul 3, 1992CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
- Jun 29, 1992FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · The title of the measure was amended. Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Valentine moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
- Jun 18, 1992CommitteeCommittee · Reported by House Science, Space, and Technology Committee
- Jun 10, 1992CommitteeCommittee · Markup by House Science, Space, and Technology Committee
- Jun 9, 1992CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Energy and Commerce Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Science, Space, and Technology Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the House
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.