1976L0765 — EN — 02.08.1976 — 000.001 — 1
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►B COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
of 27July 197 6
on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to alcoholometers and alcohol
hydrometers
(76/765/EEC)
(OJ L 262, 27.9.1976, p. 143)
Corrected by:
►C1 Corrigendum, OJ L 60, 5.3.1977, p. 26 (76/765/EEC)
▼B
COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
of 27July 197 6
on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to
alcoholometers and alcohol hydrometers
(76/765/EEC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, and in particular Article 100 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (
1),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2),
Whereas in the Member States the definition, design and procedures for
the approval and testing of alcoholometers and alcohol hydrometers arethe subject of mandatory provisions which differ from one MemberState to another and consequently hinder the movement of and trade inthese instruments within the Community; whereas it is thereforenecessary to approximate these provisions;
Whereas harmonization of the laws, regulations and administrative
provisions relating to these instruments is essential also as a complement
to existing provisions relating to the method of determining alcoholicstrength from the results of measurements taken, in order to remove allrisk of ambiguity or dispute over the results of such measurements;
Whereas Council Directive 71/316/EEC of 26 July 1971 on the
approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to common
provisions for both measuring instruments and methods of metrological
control (
3) laid down the EEC pattern approval and EEC initial
verification procedures; whereas in accordance with that Directive it isnecessary to lay down the technical requirements which the design andfunctioning of alcoholometers and alcohol hydrometers must satisfy in
order to be freely imported, marketed and used after having undergone
the requisite inspections and having been provided with the requiredmarks and signs;
Whereas, in its resolution of 17 December 1973 (
4) on industrial policy,
the Council invited the Commission to forward to it before 1 December1974 a proposal for a Directive on alcoholometry and alcoholometers,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Article 1
This Directive defines the charcteristics of alcoholometers and alcohol
hydrometers used to determine the alcoholic strength of mixtures of
water and ethanol.
Article 2
Those alcoholometers and alcohol hydrometers which may bear EEC
marks and signs are described in the Annex.
Such instruments shall be subject to EEC pattern approval and shall be
submitted for EEC initial verification.1976L0765 — EN — 02.08.1976 — 000.001 — 2
(1) OJ No C 76, 7. 4. 1975, p. 39.
(2) OJ No C 248, 29. 10 1975, p. 22.
(3) OJ No L 202, 6. 9. 1971, p. 1.
(4) OJ No C 117, 31. 12. 1973, p. 1.
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Article 3
No Member State may refuse, prohibit or restrict the placing on the
market or the use of any alcoholometer or alcohol hydrometer bearing
the EEC pattern approval sign or EEC verification mark on the grounds
of their metrological properties.
Article 4
1. Member States shall adopt and publish within a period of 24
months from the date of notification of this Directive the measuresnecessary to conform with this Directive and shall forthwith inform theCommission thereof.
They shall apply these measures from 1 January 1980 at the latest.2. Member States shall inform the Commission of the texts of the
main provisions of national law which they adopt in the field covered bythis Directive.
Article 5
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.1976L0765 — EN — 02.08.1976 — 000.001 — 3
▼B
ANNEX
ALCOHOLOMETERS AND ALCOHOL HYDROMETERS
1. DEFINITION OF THE INSTRUMENTS
1.1. Alcoholometers are glass instruments which indicate:
— the alcoholic strength by mass, or
— the alcoholic strength by volume,
of a mixture of water and ethanol.They are described as either mass alcoholometers or volume alcoholometers,
depending upon what is measured.
Alcohol hydrometers are glass instruments designed to measure the density
of a mixture of water and ethanol.
1.2. The instruments defined in this Directive are graduated at a reference
temperature of 20 ºC, in accordance with the values appearing in the
international alcohol tables published by the International Organization of
Legal Metrology.
1.3. They are graduated for readings made at the free horizontal surface of the
liquid.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE INSTRUMENTS
2.1. Alcoholometers and alcohol hydrometers are glass instruments, consisting
of:
— a cylindrical body, the bottom of which is cone-shaped or hemispherical
so that it does not entrap air bubbles,
— a hollow cylindrical stem fused to the upper part of the body; its upper
end is closed.
2.2. The entire external surface of each instrument must be symmetrical about its
main axis.
The cross-section must not exhibit any abrupt alteration.
2.3. The lower part of the body must contain the loading material, the purpose of
which is to adjust the mass of the instrument.
2.4. The stem must carry a scale marked on a cylindrical support rigidly fixed to
the inside of the stem.
3. PRINCIPLES OF CONSTRUCTION
3.1. The glass used for making the instruments shall be transparent and free from
any defect liable to interfere with the reading of scale measurements.
The glass shall have a coefficient of cubic expansion of (25 ± 2) 10
−6ºC−1.
3.2. The loading material shall be fixed in the bottom of the instrument. After the
finished instrument has been kept in a horizontal position for one hour at
80 ºC and subsequently cooled in that position, it shall float with its axis
vertical to within 1 degree 30 minutes.
4. SCALE
4.1. No instrument shall have more than one scale of the type referred to in 4.5 or
4.6.
4.2. The scale and the inscriptions shall be marked on a support having a smooth
matt surface.
This support shall be held rigidly in place in the stem and reference marks
shall be provided so that any displacement of the scale and its support
relative to the stem is apparent.
The support, the scale and the inscriptions shall show no trace of distortion,
discoloration or charring when maintained at 70 ºC for 24 hours.1976L0765 — EN — 02.08.1976 — 000.001 — 4
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4.3. The scale marks shall be:
— situated in planes perpendicular to the axis of the instrument,
— black (1) and marked clearly and indelibly,
— fine, clear-cut and of a uniform thickness not greater than 0-2 mm.
4.4. The length of the short lines on the scale shall be at least one-fifth, that of
the medium lines at least one-third and that of the long lines at least half of
the circumference of the stem.
4.5. Alcoholometers shall have nominal scales graduated by % mass or by %
volume of alcohol. They shall cover a range not greater than 10 % of alcohol
by volume or by mass.
The scale interval shall be 0·1%.Each scale shall include from five to 10 additional scale intervals beyond its
upper and lower nominal range limits.
4.6. The nominal scales of alcohol hydrometers shall be graduated in
kilogrammes per cubic metre. They shall cover a range not greater than
20 kg/m
3.
The scale interval shall be 0·2 kg/m3.
Each scale shall include from five to 10 additional scale intervals beyond its
upper and lower nominal range limits. However, the scale must not extend
beyond 1 000 kg/m3.
5. GRADUATION AND NUMBERING
5.1. On alcoholometers, every 10th scale mark, counting from one end of the
nominal scale, shall be a long line. There shall be a medium line between
each successive pair of long lines and four short lines between each long line
and the nearest medium line.
Only the long lines shall be numbered.
5.2. On alcohol hydrometers, every fifth line, counting from one end of the
nominal scale, shall be a long line. There shall be four short lines between
two consecutive long lines.
Only the fifth or 10th lines shall be numbered.
5.3. The lines indicating the limits of the nominal scale shall show the figures in
full. On alcohol hydrometers the other numbers may be abbreviated.
6. CLASSIFICATION AND PRINCIPAL DIMENSIONS OF INSTRU-
MENTS
6.1. The instruments shall be of one of the following classes of accuracy:
— Class I:The minimum mean scale spacing shall be 1·5 mm.
Instruments in this class shall not incorporate a thermometer.
— Class II:The minimum mean scale spacing shall be 1·05 mm.
Instruments in this class may incorporate a thermometer.
— Class III:The minimum mean scale spacing shall be 0·85 mm.
Instruments in this class may incorporate a thermometer.
6.2. The external diameter of the body of any instrument shall be between 19 and
40 mm.
The external diameter of the stem shall be at least 3 mm for Class I and
Class II instruments and at least 2·5 mm for Class III instruments. The stem
shall extend for at least 15 mm above the uppermost scale mark.
The cross-section of the stem must be uniform for at least 5 mm below the
lowest scale mark.
7. INSCRIPTIONS
7.1. The following inscriptions shall be legibly and indelibly marked inside the
instrument:
— Class I, II or III,
— kg/m3or % vol or % mas,1976L0765 — EN — 02.08.1976 — 000.001 — 5
(1) Beyond the range of the nominal scale the scale lines may be of a different colour.▼C1
▼B
— 20 ºC,
— ethanol,
— the name or identification mark of the manufacturer,— the identification number of the instrument,— the EEC pattern approval sign ‘ ε’.
7.2. The mass of the instrument, expressed to the nearest milligramme may, if
desired, be marked on the body.
8. MAXIMUM PERMISSIBLE ERRORS AND VERIFICATION
8.1. The maximum permissible error for alcoholometers and alcohol hydrometers
shall be:
— for Class I, ± one half scale interval for each reading measured,
— for Classes II and III, ± one scale interval for each reading measured.
8.2. Verification shall be carried out at a minimum of three points in the nominal
scale range.
9. THERMOMETERS USED IN DETERMINING THE ALCOHOLIC
STRENGTH
9.1. If the instrument used to determine the alcoholic strength belongs to Class I,
the thermometer used shall be:
— of the metallic resistance or mercury-expansion type with glass casing,
— graduated in 0·1 or 0·05 ºC.
The maximum permissible error is ± 0·05 ºC for all scale readings.
Mercury thermometers shall include a scale mark at 0 ºC.
9.2. If the instrument used to determine the alcoholic strength belongs to Class II
or III, the thermometer shall be of the mercury-expansion type, with a glass
casing and be gratuated to 0·1 or 0·2 or 0·5 ºC. It shall have a scale mark at
0 ºC.
The maximum permissible error, positive or negative, shall be:
0·1 ºC if the thermometer is graduated to 0·1 ºC,
0·15 ºC if the thermometer is graduated to 0·2 ºC,
0·2 ºC if the thermometer is graduated to 0·5 ºC.
The thermometer may be incorporated in the instrument used to determine
the alcoholic strength.
In this case, it need not have any scale mark at 0 ºC.
9.3. The minimum scale spacing shall be:
— 0·7 mm in the case of thermometers graduated to 0·05, 0·1, and 0·2 ºC
and
— 1·0 mm in the case of thermometers graduated to 0·5 ºC.
9.4. The thickness of the lines shall not be more than one-fifth of the scale
spacing.
10. MARKINGS
On the back of alcoholometers and alcohol hydrometers a space must be left
on the upper third of the body for the EEC initial verification mark.
In accordance with 3.1.1 of Annex II to Directive 71/316/EEC and by way of
derogation from the general rule laid down in section 3 of that Annex, the
EEC initial verification mark must, due to the special marking requirements
for glass instruments, consist of a series of signs having the following
meaning:
— a small letter ‘e’,
— the last two digits of the year of EEC initial verification
— the identifying letter or letters of the State where the EEC initial
verification was carried out,
— if necessary, the identifying number of the verification office.1976L0765 — EN — 02.08.1976 — 000.001 — 6
▼B
When the marking is carried out by sandblasting, the letters and numbers
shall be applied so as not to impair their legibility.
Example:
e 75 D 48:EEC initial verification carried out in 1975 by Bureau 48 in the
Federal Republic of Germany.1976L0765 — EN — 02.08.1976 — 000.001 — 7