EBU Pharma - Braille site

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From the end of October 2005, it became mandatory for all new pharmaceutical products for human use to be provided with Braille information on the packaging. Both regulatory and political authorities have encouraged braille to be incorporated into all pharmaceutical products as rapidly as possible.

We appreciate the complexities of Braille across the European market and understand that pharmaceutical companies and packaging organisations would like to be able to use the same Braille code across a European market.

The European Blind Union has worked with many blind organisations to endeavour to provide an agreed Braille code and set of principles that can be used in many European countries. There is no intention to impose this on any European country and each Braille authority has the right to elect to allow the use of this code in their country or to require that the national Braille code is used.

This website will give details of the code that has been agreed between many European Blind organisations - the EBU Recommended Braille Code for Use on Pharmaceutical Packaging. It also gives the EBU recommendations answering many frequently asked questions about how the Braille code should be implemented such as, spacing, abbreviations, capitalisation and fitting Braille on the pack.

Details are also given relating to which countries have agreed to allow the use of this EBU code on pharmaceutical packaging. Each country's national code is also displayed where the information has been made available. As further countries respond we will update the contents and alert registered subscribers.