2019 No. 1211
The Weights and Measures Act 1985 (Amendment) and Units of Measurement Regulations 1986 (Amendment) Regulations 2019
Made
Laid before Parliament
Coming into force
The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19721.
The Secretary of State is a Minister designated2 for the purposes of section 2(2) of that Act in relation to units of measurement to be used for economic, health, safety, or administrative purposes.
Citation and commencement1
These Regulations—
a
may be cited as the Weights and Measures Act 1985 (Amendment) and Units of Measurement Regulations 1986 (Amendment) Regulations 2019; and
b
come into force on 13th June 2020.
Amendment of the Weights and Measures Act 19852
In the third column of the table in Part 7 of Schedule 1 to the Weights and Measures Act 19853 (definitions of units of measurement of electricity)—
a
for the definition given for “AMPERE” substitute—
for which the symbol “A” is used, is the SI unit of electric current, defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the elementary charge e to be 1.602 176 634 × 10-19 when expressed in the unit C, which is equal to A s, where the second is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the caesium frequency ΔvCs, the unperturbed ground-state hyperfine transition frequency of the caesium 133 atom, to be 9 192 631 770 when expressed in the unit Hz, which is equal to s-1.
b
in the definition given for “WATT”, after “joule”, insert “, where the second has the meaning given in the definition of “AMPERE””.
Amendment of the Units of Measurement Regulations 19863
For paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Units of Measurement Regulations 19864 (definitions of SI base units5) substitute—
SI base units.
Quantity
Unit
Name
Symbol
Time
second
s
Length
metre
m
Mass
kilogram
kg
Electric current
ampere
A
Thermodynamic temperature
kelvin
K
Amount of substance
mole
mol
Luminous intensity
candela
cd
Definitions of SI base units
Unit of time
The second, symbol s, is the SI unit of time. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the caesium frequency ΔvCs, the unperturbed ground-state hyperfine transition frequency of the caesium 133 atom, to be 9 192 631 770 when expressed in the unit Hz, which is equal to s-1.
Unit of length
The metre, symbol m, is the SI unit of length. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the speed of light in vacuum c to be 299 792 458 when expressed in the unit m/s, where the second is defined in terms of ΔvCs.
Unit of mass
The kilogram, symbol kg, is the SI unit of mass. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the Planck constant h to be 6.626 070 15 × 10-34 when expressed in the unit J s, which is equal to kg m2 s-1, where the metre and the second are defined in terms of c and ΔvCs.
Unit of electric current
The ampere, symbol A, is the SI unit of electric current. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the elementary charge e to be 1.602 176 634 × 10-19 when expressed in the unit C, which is equal to A s, where the second is defined in terms of ΔvCs.
Unit of thermodynamic temperature
The kelvin, symbol K, is the SI unit of thermodynamic temperature. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the Boltzmann constant k to be 1.380 649 × 10-23 when expressed in the unit J K-1, which is equal to kg m2 s-2 K-1, where the kilogram, metre and second are defined in terms of h, c and ΔvCs.
Unit of amount of substance
The mole, symbol mol, is the SI unit of amount of substance. One mole contains exactly 6.022 140 76 × 1023 elementary entities. This number is the fixed numerical value of the Avogadro constant, NA, when expressed in the unit mol-1 and is called the Avogadro number.
The amount of substance, symbol n, of a system is a measure of the number of specified elementary entities. An elementary entity may be an atom, a molecule, an ion, an electron, any other particle or specified group of particles.
Unit of luminous intensity
The candela, symbol cd, is the SI unit of luminous intensity in a given direction. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the luminous efficacy of monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 × 1012 Hz, Kcd, to be 683 when expressed in the unit lm W-1, which is equal to cd sr W-1, or cd sr kg-1 m-2 s3, where the kilogram, metre and second are defined in terms of h, c and ΔvCs.
Special name and symbol of the SI derived unit of temperature for expressing Celsius temperature
Quantity
Unit
Name
Symbol
Celsius temperature
degree Celsius
°C
Celsius temperature t is defined as the difference t = T – T0 between the two thermodynamic temperatures T and T0 where T0 = 273.15 K. An interval or difference of temperature may be expressed either in kelvins or in degrees Celsius. The unit “degree Celsius” is equal to the unit “kelvin”.
(This note is not part of the Regulations)