National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of EN 18156:2026.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee CH/173, Assistive products for persons with disability.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

The UK committee advises users to consult the Sign Design Guide+ when applying this standard.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 31 October 2026.

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 3 August 2026.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and United Kingdom.

European foreword

This document (EN 18156:2026) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 293 “Assistive products and accessibility”, the secretariat of which is held by SIS.

This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by April 2027, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by April 2027.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.

According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organisations of the following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.

1 Scope

This document specifies requirements and technical specifications for information presented in tactile lettering in the built environment.

NOTE For the definition of built environment see ISO 21542.

It sets out rules for content, design, arrangement and application of information elements so that blind and partially sighted people are able to locate, identify, fluently read and interpret this information.

This document does not specify technical methods for producing tactile lettering.

This document is only applicable to permanently installed tactile lettering.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 General considerations

5 Design

5.1 General requirements

5.2 Layout

5.3 Material and finishes

5.4 Braille

5.5 Raised characters

5.6 Tactile symbols and tactile pictograms

5.7 QR codes

6 Placement and implementation

6.1 Principles

6.2 Application areas

Bibliography