CE Marking Size Requirements: 5 mm, and Where It Goes

CE marking size requirements fit in one sentence: the mark must be at least 5 mm high and keep the proportions of the official drawing. Products still get stopped over it, and almost always for the same reason — somebody scaled the mark to fit the space left on the label instead of designing the label around the mark.

The CE marking is a manufacturer's declaration that the product meets the applicable EU requirements, affixed in a fixed graphic form whose smallest legal height is 5 mm. It is not a logo you may resize to taste. Below 5 mm, or stretched to fill a panel, it is no longer the CE marking.

CE marking size requirements at a glance

Everything below is one of these nine lines, explained.

The 5 mm rule, and the case where it is not 5 mm

Annex II is short. Its dimensional clause reads: where specific legislation does not impose specific dimensions, the CE marking shall be at least 5 mm high. Two consequences follow, and exporters routinely get both wrong.

First: 5 mm is a floor, not a target. There is no maximum. A mark at 8 mm on a small appliance is fine; a mark at 4.5 mm is not, no matter how tidy the label looks.

Second: the sector legislation can override it. The phrase "where specific legislation does not impose specific dimensions" exists because individual product directives and regulations may set their own. The correct sequence is to check the specific legislation that applies to your product first, then fall back to the 5 mm floor. If you are exporting under more than one piece of legislation, the strictest dimension wins.

The height is measured on the mark itself, at the final printed size of the label or moulded plate — not in your design file, and not on a proof printed at a different scale.

Proportions: why the mark cannot be squashed to fit

The second Annex II clause is the one that gets ignored by designers who have never read it: if the CE marking is reduced or enlarged, the proportions given in the graduated drawing must be respected.

In practice that means the mark scales as a single locked object. Not stretched to match a rectangle. Not condensed to fit a narrow panel. Not rebuilt in a font that "looks close." The official form is a construction on a grid, and the two letters share the same vertical dimension.

This is also why redrawing the mark by hand is the wrong workflow. Use the official artwork and scale it uniformly. A mark that was typed rather than placed will fail an inspector's overlay check even when its height is correct.

Where the mark goes when the product is too small

The Commission's guidance sets a preference order rather than a single location. The mark goes on the product itself where that is possible. Where it is not — a small component, a fastener, a product with no flat surface — it goes on the packaging or the accompanying documents.

That order matters for a common export mistake: printing the mark only on the master carton because the carton artwork was easier to change. The carton is the fallback, not the default, and carton-only marking on a product that could carry a rating plate invites a finding at market surveillance. Carton markings have their own job and their own conventions — see export carton shipping marks for what actually belongs on the outer box.

The other half of the placement question is what shares the panel. Article 30 permits any other marking provided the visibility, legibility and meaning of the CE marking is not impaired. So a rating plate crowded with a dozen logos, with the CE mark the smallest object on it, is a defensible finding even when the 5 mm height is technically met. Give the mark clear space and do not let another badge dominate it.

The notified body number

Where a notified body was involved in the conformity assessment, its four-digit identification number appears next to the CE marking. Two failures repeat:

• The number is present in the technical file and missing on the product.
• The number is placed somewhere else on the label, so it does not read as belonging to the mark.

If no notified body was required for your product's conformity route, there is no number to add — inventing one, or reusing a test-lab number that is not a notified body identification number, falls squarely under the Article 30 prohibition on markings likely to mislead as to the meaning of the CE marking.

Millimetres, not pixels: where artwork checks go wrong

CE marking size requirements are written in millimetres, and a design file measured in pixels tells you nothing about whether the mark is legal. The same 40-pixel-tall mark is three different physical sizes depending on the artwork resolution.

The check that catches this is unglamorous: measure the mark in millimetres, on the artwork, at final size, before the file goes to the printer — and record the measurement somewhere your buyer can see it. Eyeballing a mark against a nearby letter is how a 3.4 mm mark ships. What works is marking up the artwork proof with the measured height locked to the object itself — the same annotation pass that produces the dimensioned label drawing you send to the packaging supplier, so the number on the drawing is the number that was measured rather than one somebody typed from memory. A generated graphic that merely looks like a dimension callout is worse than none here: it puts a confident number next to a mark that was never measured.

The same artwork pack usually carries the compliance marks, the rating plate layout and the industrial spec diagram that goes into the buyer's file, which is why one measured source file beats three redrawn ones.

CE and UKCA in Great Britain right now

The practical read for an exporter: for the product groups covered by that indefinite recognition, one compliant CE mark still opens both the EU and Great Britain, and adding UKCA is a commercial decision rather than a legal necessity. For the carved-out sectors, check the sector guidance before you print anything. The same "check the sector rule first" logic applies to consumer-product labelling generally — the GPSR labelling requirements sit alongside conformity marks on the same panel, not instead of them.

Artwork checklist: CE marking size requirements before files go to the printer

• Mark measures at least 5 mm high at final printed size
• Sector legislation checked for a specific dimension that overrides 5 mm
• Official artwork used and scaled uniformly, never stretched or redrawn
• Both letters share the same vertical dimension
• Mark sits on the product itself, with packaging or documents used only where the product cannot carry it
• Contrast and print method give a mark that stays legible and indelible for the product's life
• Four-digit notified body number placed next to the mark where the conformity route required one
• No neighbouring logo larger or more prominent than the CE marking
• No invented badge that copies the CE form
• Measured height recorded on the label drawing kept with the technical file

FAQ

How big does the CE mark have to be?

At least 5 mm high, where the specific legislation for your product does not impose its own dimensions. That figure comes from Annex II of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008. There is no upper limit, so when a label is tight the answer is to make room, not to shrink the mark.

Can the CE marking go on the packaging instead of the product?

Only when it cannot go on the product. Commission guidance puts the product first and allows the packaging or accompanying documents where affixing to the product is not possible. Carton-only marking on a product that could carry a rating plate is a common and avoidable finding.

Can I make the CE mark smaller than 5 mm on a small product?

Not on the basis of "it does not fit." Check the specific legislation for your product group, because it may set its own dimensions; otherwise the 5 mm floor applies and the label has to be redesigned around it. Where the product genuinely cannot carry the mark, the route is packaging or accompanying documents, not a smaller mark.

Do I still need the UKCA marking to sell in Great Britain?

For the product regulations covered by the UK government's indefinite recognition of CE requirements, no — CE is accepted, and UKCA is an alternative you may use. Medical devices, construction products, marine equipment, rail products, cableways, transportable pressure equipment and uncrewed aircraft systems have separate arrangements, so those need checking individually.

How do I check the CE mark is really 5 mm on my packaging artwork?

Measure it at final print size, in millimetres, on the artwork file — not in pixels, and not on a scaled proof. The reliable version of that check is an annotation pass that locks the measured height to the mark itself and exports a dimensioned proof, so the printer, the buyer and your technical file all see the same measured number instead of one that was typed from memory. Tools built for measured dimension annotation do this in a single pass over the label artwork, which is why it is worth doing on every SKU rather than on the ones you remember to spot-check.

Sources & References

• Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, Annex II — CE marking: form, graduated drawing proportions and the at-least-5-mm height
• Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, Article 30 — general principles of the CE marking, misleading markings and other markings
• EUR-Lex — Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 (full text, English)
• Your Europe (European Commission) — CE marking: size, proportions, legibility, placement and the notified body number
• European Commission — CE marking overview and manufacturer responsibilities
• GOV.UK — Using the UKCA marking: minimum height, proportional scaling and placement flexibility to 31 December 2027
• GOV.UK — Placing manufactured goods on the market in Great Britain: indefinite recognition of CE requirements and the sectors excluded