RE: English-Metric units in documentation

["Johnson, Tom" <TJohnson -at- starcutter -dot- com>]

Just about every product sold in Europe must bear the CE Mark. Requirements for CE certification are rigorous. Among other things, measurements must be specified in metric values and documentation must be in the native language(s) for the target country. That's the part you need to be most concerned with. Engineers need to design to CE Mark specifications for safety issues. For instance, components (for example fuses, safety devices and subsystems) most-likely need to bear the CE mark. CE mark certification isn't something that happens in a week or two.

I've been away from CE Mark for a year or so. My terminology might be slightly off. I was just told this morning that we're ramping up for another European project and I need to brush up on the requirements.

Tom Johnson
Technical Writer
tjohnson -at- starcutter -dot- com 

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Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 9:22 AM
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Subject: English-Metric units in documentation


We (a US-based company) have some equipment to be sold to customers in North America, Europe and Asia. The equipment requires installation instructions providing clearances, fixing dimensions and other measurements. In some cases +/- tolerances are specified.

I'm leaning toward providing both units of measurements in the text and graphics, while doing my best to keep them clear and uncluttered.

However I am wondering if there is any standard practice for this, whereby the producer supplies the information in its home unit of measurement, with the burden on the customer to convert. 

Thanks for any input. 
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