HALF A CENTURY OF ℮

A little over 50 years ago, on July 26, 1971, the European Union created the “e” symbol in its directive 71/316/EEC. The objective of this directive was to prepare for the harmonization of the laws of the member states in the field of measurement instruments and metrological control. The “e” symbol is defined on page 11 of this directive.

A few years later, on January 20, 1976, directive 76/211/EEC defined the basis for pre-packaged product control. This directive specified that the “e” applied to the packaging of products symbolized the conformity of the product with the requirements of the directive (Annex I, 3.3).

The regulations on pre-packaged product control, based on these directives, were introduced in France by decree 78-166 of January 31, 1978.

Measurement on Products, Industrial Scales, Analysis Instruments

In 2014, the DGCCRF (Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control) published a guide to good practices, which incorporates the directives and decrees in force in the field of pre-packaged product control.

This guide summarizes all the controls to be carried out during the packaging process to ensure product compliance. Among other things, the guide recalls good practices in terms of:

Controlling the average weight of products.
Controlling the standard deviation.
Detecting products with a weight below the maximum permissible error.
Detecting process malfunctions.
Frequency of controls.

The PrePack and CheckProd software integrate these different calculation rules and provide powerful tools to control the compliance of pre-packaged products with the applicable regulations.

Do you have a project to digitize and make use of the data from your measuring instruments (balances, weight sorters, pH meters, etc.)? ERELIA, a subsidiary of the BASSETTI group, has been specialized in the field of pre-packaged product metrology for over 30 years. You can contact us, and our experts will be able to meet your needs.