Estimated sign
Mark (℮) to declare approximate contents
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The estimated sign[1] or estimated symbol,[2] ℮, (officially, the ℮-mark[3] or the final EC verification mark in EU law,[4]) can be found on most prepackaged products in the European Union (EU). Its use declares that the prepackage fulfils EU Directive 76/211/EEC,[5] which specifies the maximum permitted tolerances in package content.
| ℮ | |
|---|---|
Estimated sign | |
| In Unicode | U+212E ℮ ESTIMATED SYMBOL |
| Different from | |
| Different from | U+0065 e LATIN SMALL LETTER E |
The shape and dimensions of the e-mark are defined in EU Directive 2009/34/EC.[4] The e-mark is also used on prepackages in the United Kingdom,[6] Australia and South Africa.[7]: 111 It must be placed in the same field of vision as the nominal weight or volume quantity, for example, "1 mg ℮" or "1 L ℮".[citation needed]
Functions
Use of the estimated sign declares that:
- the average quantity of product in a batch of prepackages shall not be less than the nominal quantity stated on the label;
- the proportion of individual prepackages having a negative error greater than the tolerable negative error shall be sufficiently small for batches of prepackages to satisfy the requirements of the official reference test as specified in legislation;
- none of the prepackages marked have a negative error greater than twice the tolerable negative error (since no such prepackage may bear the sign).
The scope of the directive is limited to prepackages that have a predetermined nominal weight of between 5 g and 10 kg or volume of 5 mL and 10 L, are filled without the purchaser present, and in which the quantity cannot be altered without opening or destroying the packing material.
The sign looks like a stylised lowercase letter "e" and its shape is precisely defined by the European Union Directive 2009/34/EC. It must be placed in the same field of vision as the nominal quantity. The sign has been added to the Unicode list of characters as U+212E ℮ ESTIMATED SYMBOL.
Tolerable negative error
Error tolerance decreases as nominal quantity increases, by alternating intervals of a given percentage error with intervals of a given amount error: these interpolate between the stepwise decreases in percentage error. The estimated sign indicates that the average quantity of product in a batch of prepackages is not less than the nominal quantity stated on the label.
The tolerable negative error is related to the nominal quantity and varies between 9% on prepackages nominally 50 g or 50 mL or less, to 1.5% on prepackages nominally 1 kg (or 1 L) or more. The tolerable error decreases as nominal quantity increases, and is done by alternating intervals where there is a percentage error and intervals where there is a fixed error (and thus over those intervals the percentage error decreases).
| Nominal quantity in g or mL |
Tolerable negative error |
|---|---|
| 5–50 | 9% |
| 50–100 | 4.5 units |
| 100–200 | 4.5% |
| 200–300 | 9 units |
| 300–500 | 3% |
| 500–1000 | 15 units |
| 1000–10000 | 1.5% |
.svg){kind=small}