What is BS 381C:1996 about?

Our paint and coating standards provide reproducible and practical guidance with the aim of ensuring that requirements for paint properties are measured in the same way, thus allowing objective assessments and a universal ‘paint language’.
BS 381C:1996 is one such standard. It provides a unique set of colour paint samples not found elsewhere that are widely recognized in the UK and often used to meet safety, legal or contractual requirements in industries such as defence, aerospace, transport and utilities.

Who is BS 381C:1996 for?

Paint manufacturers and suppliers
Engineering and construction companies
Government agencies (e.g. Ministry of Defence, Department for Transport)
Aerospace and defence companies

Why should you use BS 381C:1996?

This is a British Standard for colour measurement. It’s made up of 91 unique paint colours and their corresponding colourimetric data. These paint colours are widely recognized in the UK and often used to meet safety, legal or contractual requirements in industries such as defence, aerospace, transport and utilities. High-quality pigment is used for each paint sample, allowing customers to conduct accurate colour identification and matching.

BS 381C:1996 is an essential reference for anyone seeking to replicate or reference one of the specific paint colours listed. The approximate dimensions of the booklet are 210mm (w) x 297mm (h). It is 24 pages in length. High-quality colour pigment is required for each colour chip to ensure exceptional visual accuracy. This means that digitisation of BS 381C:1996 is not viable and only hard copies are available, hence this reprint.

What’s new about BS 381C:1996?

By 2017, stocks of the standard were running low. On review, it was concluded that no substantial changes were required to the standard, so this is a straight reprint of BS 381C:1996.

BS 381C:1996

Specification for colours for identification, coding and special purposes

Current

Published:

15 Dec 1996