Standards Development

Scope

This document establishes minimum quality requirements for durability of written lines by marking pens for documentary use.

Purpose

Recently, marking pens have become available in a wide variety, and the performance of written lines is also in a wide range. As an example, there is a type of marking pens which can erase the written line. Using these pens for contract signs and checks puts us at risk of fraud.

Under such conditions, marking pens for documentary use should

a) not be affected by the environment, and suitable for long-term document handling and storage

b) be more resistant to modification (e.g. attempts to falsify a document) than types for general use

It is necessary to make a new standard to distinguish the marking pens which can meet these requirements for durable writing lines from marking pens for general use.

This proposed standard will provide clear selection criteria for marking pens in documentary use to end-users. For example, if we print “Documentary use, conforms to ISO *****” on a barrel of marking pen, people can easily understand the product is suitable for checks, contracts, and significant documents.

For your information, “marking pen” in this proposed standard means writing pen other than ball-point pen.