Foreword

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This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 10, Technical product documentation.

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Introduction

This document is applicable to marking pens for documentary use.

For documentary use, some requirements are necessary:

to assure the legibility of lettering;
for the handling and storage of documents over long periods of time (these requirements are often discussed with the archivist).

An example of documentary use is the preparation of documents that are required as evidence.

Furthermore, pens which meet the requirements for documentary use produce written lines which are more resistant to modification (e.g. attempts to falsify a document) than ordinary marking pens.

1 Scope

This document establishes minimum quality requirements for durability of written line with marking pens for documentary use.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Requirements

4.1 Water resistance

4.2 Ethanol resistance

4.3 Hydrochloric acid resistance

4.4 Ammonium hydroxide resistance

4.5 Bleaching resistance

4.6 Erasure resistance

4.7 Light resistance

4.8 Reproducibility

5 Test equipment and accessories

5.1 Performance testing paper

5.2 Eraser

5.3 Light test apparatus

5.4 Reproducibility apparatus

5.5 Test solutions

6 Testing

6.1 Sampling

6.2 Climatic conditions for testing

6.3 Procedure

7 Marking

8 Test report

Bibliography

ISO 3135:2025

Marking pens. Durability of written line. Documentary use (DOC)

Current

Published:

28 Apr 2025

1 Scope