A standard for Braille on Pharmaceutical Packaging was completed and adopted earlier this year by the European Standards Organisation (CEN) and is now available in the UK as British Standard BS EN 15823:2010 entitled “Packaging – Braille on Packaging for Medicinal Products”.

After more than 4 years of deliberation and negotiation the European Blind Union expect that during 2010 a European standard, EBU Pharmaceutical Braille, will be adopted for braille on medicinal packaging. So, should we begin to use EBU Braille now? Well… it is a little confusing…

Most pharmaceutical products are distributed in more than one country. At the moment the Braille characters for the letters A-Z and the numbers 0-9 (with the exception of France) are the same throughout Europe. However, each country’s Braille authority has often differing specifications for accented characters, symbols and punctuation. To be more cost effective and to reduce the possibility of making errors in Braille for pharmaceutical packaging the packaging industry would benefit from being able to use just one Braille code across the European Union. With that ultimate goal in mind the European Blind Union has issued a proposal for a standard E.U. Pharmaceutical Braille Table.

The IADD working in conjunction with the Braille Authority of North America (BANA) officially released the Can-Am Braille standard on Friday, May 8, at the 2009 IADD•FSEA Odyssey in Atlanta, GA, USA. An informative technical workshop, “Let Your Fingers Do The Talking: Braille on Folding Cartons” reviewed the “North American standard in detail.

The International Association of Diecutting and Diemaking (IADD) has produced a Braille standard for pharmaceutical packaging in North America that will be published at the 2009 IADDFSEA Odyssey show in May. The standard, Can-Am Braille, which is modelled on the ECMA Euro Braille and Marburg Medium standard specified by the European directive for Braille on Pharmaceutical packaging, is designed to create a set of guidelines in the absence of North American legistlation and has been developed with the Braille Authority of North America.