DEAS  863: 2023 
ICS 85.080.01  
 
© EAC 2023                                                                                                                         Second  Edition 2023  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
 
Paper and board — Cut-size paper — Specification  
 
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  
 
   
  
 DEAS  863: 2023 
ii © EAC  2023 – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
This EAC document is copyright -protected by EAC. While the reproduction of this document by 
participants in the EAC standards d evelopment process is permitted without prior permission from EAC, 
neither this document nor any extract from it may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form for 
any other purpose without prior written permission from EAC.  
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as shown below or to EAC’s member body in the country of the requester:  
© East African Community  2023 — All rights reserved  
East African Community  
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Tanzania  
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       Web: www.eac -quality.net  
Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.  
Violators may be prosecuted . 
 DEAS  863: 2023 
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East Afri can Standards has been necessitated by the need for harmonizing requirements 
governing quality of products and services in the East African Community. It is envisaged that through 
harmonized standardization, trade barriers that are encountered when goods a nd services are exchanged 
within the Community will be removed.  
The Community has established an East African Standards Committee  (EASC)  mandated to develop and 
issue East African Standards  (EAS) . The Committee is composed of representatives of the Nation al 
Standards Bodies in Partner States, together with the representatives from the public and private sector 
organizations  in the community .  
East African Standards are developed through  Technical Committees that are representative of key 
stakeholders inclu ding government, academia, consumer groups, private sector and other interested parties. 
Draft East African Standards are circulated to stakeholders through the National Standards Bodies in the 
Partner States. The comments received are discussed and incorp orated before finalization of standards, in 
accordance with the Principles and procedures for develop ment of East African Standards.  
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances. Users of the East 
African Standards  are therefore expected to ensure that they always have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
The committee responsible  for this document is Technical Committee EASC /TC 065, Paper and paper 
produc ts. 
Attention is drawn to the possibi lity that some of the elements of this document may be subject of patent 
rights. EAC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (EAS 863:2017), which has been tech nically revised  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS  863: 2023 
 
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  1 
 Paper and board — Cut-size paper  — Specification  
1 Scope   
This Draft East African Standard specifies the requirements, sampling and test methods for cut-size paper . 
This standard does not apply to newsprint paper , manilla paper  and photocopy ing paper . 
2 Normative references   
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes 
requirements of this document.  For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, 
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
ISO 186, Paper  and board — Sampling to determine average quality  
ISO 187, Paper board and pulps — Standard atmosphere for conditioning and testing and procedure for 
monitoring the atmosphere and conditioning of samples    
ISO 216, Writing p aper and certain classes of printed matter — Trimmed sizes — A and B series, and 
indication of machine direction   
ISO 287, Paper and board — Determination of moisture content of a lot — Oven -drying method   
ISO 535, Paper and board — Determination of water absorptiveness — Cobb method   
ISO 536, Paper and board — Determination of grammage   
ISO 1924 -2, Paper and board — Determination of tensile properties — Part 2: Constant rate of elongation 
method (20 mm/min)  
ISO 1974, Paper — Determination of tearing resis tance — Elmendorf method   
ISO 2470, Paper, board and pulps — Measurement of diffuse reflectance factor — Part 2: Outdoor daylight 
conditions (D65 brightness)   
ISO 2471, Paper and board — Determination of opacity (paper backing) — Diffuse reflectance method   
ISO 21067, Packaging — Vocabulary  
3 Terms and definitions   
For the purpose of this standard, the terms and definitions given in ISO 21067 shall apply . 
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:  
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at  http://www.iso.org/obp     DEAS  863: 202 3 
2 © EAC  2023 – All rights reserved  
 cut-size paper  
paper in the range 50 g/m2 to 150  g/m2 which are used for writing and/or in various printing and copying 
devices  
 
4 Requirements  
4.1 General requirements  
4.1.1  The cut -size paper shall be suitably sized or unsized for satisfactory printing and writing with printing 
ink and pen ink.  
4.1.2  The cut -size paper shall be uniform in texture , finish and calliper, free of lint, dust, dirt, sli me spot, 
wrinkles, folds, scuff marks, and shall lie flat. The cut -size paper shall be cut squarely on all sides, and be free 
of knife marking, ragged and torn edges  
4.2 Specific requirements  
4.2.1  The cut -size paper shall comply with the requirements giv en in Table 1 when tested in accordance 
with the methods specified therein.  
Table 1 — Requirements for cut -size paper  
S/No Characteristic  Requirement  
Test methodb 
Bond paper  Duplicating  paper  
i  Grammage  c, g/m2, min. 50 65 ISO 53 6  
ii  Moisture content, %   4 - 7 4 - 7 ISO 287  
iii  Opacitya, % min.  78 80 ISO 2471  
iv  Brightnessa, %, min.  70 70 ISO 2470  
v  Tear index, mN.m2/g, min.   53 55 ISO 1974  
vi  Breaking length, mm, min.  2 700 2 300 ISO 1924-2  
vii  Water absorptiveness, g/m2, 
max.  20 20 ISO 535  
viii pH [4.5 – 9.5] [4.5 – 9.5] [ISO 6588 -1] 
a Applicable to white papers only.  
b Conditioning shall be done in accordance with ISO 187.   
c For grammages above the minimum , the product shall comply with the dec lared grammage on 
the label, subject to a tolerance of ± 5%  
  
4.2.2  When tested in accordance with ISO 216 the paper shall be within ‘A’ and ‘B’ series of sizes.  DEAS  863: 202 3 
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  3 
 5 Packaging and labelling  
5.1 Packaging  
5.1.1  Sheets of cut -size paper shall be package d in suitable material that protects them from dust, moisture 
and dirt during transportation, storage and normal use.  
5.1.2  The sheets of cut -size paper shall not adhere to one another. The package shall contain sheets of 
cut-size paper that are of the same si ze, grammage and colour.  
5.1.3  The number of sheets of cut -size paper in a ream shall be 500 with a tolerance of ± 2 sheets .  
5.2 Labelling  
5.2.1  Each ream  shall be legibly and indelibly labelled either in English, Kiswahili or French or a 
combination, with the following information:  
a) name and physical address of the manufacturer  
b) name of the product;  
c) size designation of the paper;  
d) number of sheets;  
e) grammage of the paper;  
f) colour of the paper, if other than white; and  
g) country of origin/manufactur e.  
h) batch/code number  
5.2.2  Each bulk package shall be legibly and indelibly labelled either in English, Kiswahili or French or a 
combination, with the following information:  
a) name and physical address of the manufacturer  
b) name of the product;  
i) size d esignation of the paper;  
j) number of reams;  
k) grammage of the paper;  
l) colour of the paper, if other than white;  
m) country of origin/manufacture. and  
n) batch/code number  
6 Sampling   
Sampling should be done in accordance with ISO 186  DEAS  863: 202 3 
4 © EAC  2023 – All rights reserved  
 Bibliography  
[1] KS 802 -1:1989, Specification for cut -size office papers - Part 1: General purpose paper (Second 
Edition)  
[2] EAS 863:2017, Paper and board — Cut-size for general purposes — Specification  
 
 DEAS  863: 2023   
 
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved