On 30 November, the European Commission published regulation 1103/2010 for the labeling of portable rechargeable and automotive batteries and accumulators. The regulation requires information on the capacity levels of batteries and accumulators to be added to the product label, and it provides for rules on the minimum size and location of the information to be provided. The requirements in this regulation must be applied from 20 May 2012.
The capacity of a battery or accumulator is the electric charge that it can deliver under a specific set of conditions. The methods of determining the capacity are specified in a series of standards (IEC-EN 61951-1, IEC-EN 61951-2, IEC-EN 60622, IEC-EN 61960, IEC-EN 61056-1, IEC 60095-1 and EN 50342-1) depending on the chemical substance they contain. The capacity shall be expressed in miliampere-hour(s) or ampere-hours, using the abbreviations mAh or Ah.
Regulation 1103/2010 can be downloaded from our Library (Members -> Library -> Library Batteries).*
* Members only.