Estimated sign

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 . == 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 50g or 50mL 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). ==See also==