" ALL SIGNS IN THE UK SHOULD BE SPECIFIED USING THE FOLLOWING TWO STANDARDS "

EN 12899–1:2007

Is the Standard used for the majority of signs throughout the UK which allows clients to specify classes from the National Annex.

These materials must be tested and approved by an accredited third party to ensure compliance and clients should ask for copies.

These materials have been widely used in the UK and throughout the World for many years and provide excellent overall performance and do not suffer with orientation problems and do not need vast amounts of test measurements for compliance.

RA 2 HIG ( previously known as class 1 High Intensity Grade ).

RA 1 EG ( previously known as class 2 Engineer Grade ).

Microprismatic materials can not be specified to this Standard which can be against trade descriptions.

ETA's are not accepted against this Standard.

Highways Agency letter.http://www.pamasigns.com/MarkPooleyPDF.pdf

BS 8408:2005 

Is the UK specification for microprismatic sheetings and not ETA's, Care should be taken when specifying these materials.

Microprismatic materials can offer the potential to produce higher levels of retroreflection but not

all and in every location, the performance of microprismatic materials is sensitive to location of the

sign relative to the drivers eye's and vehicle's headlamps which can result in complex variation of the

coefficient of retroreflection.

The retroreflective performance of microprismatic materials are affected if the signs are twisted or tilted which needs to be taken into account when specifying what performance is required.

Spectral distortion is also a problem which affects the end performance of these materials and should be looked at when specifying.

Clients must specify the correct performance they require or they may receive a lower grade material which will not perform correctly

ETA's are not accepted against this Standard.