The CE marking symbol: official size, shape and artwork rules

Most people assume the CE mark is just a logo: drop a "CE" onto the packaging in roughly the right spot and move on. It isn't. The two letters are drawn to a fixed geometric grid published in EU law, the mark has a minimum physical size, and where you're allowed to put it is narrower than most first-time exporters expect. Get any of that wrong and you haven't just made a cosmetic error — you've placed a non-compliant marking on the market, which is a different problem from an untested product and, in some ways, an easier one to get caught on, because a customs officer or market surveillance inspector can spot a wrong-shaped CE mark without opening the box.

That distinction matters more this year than it used to. The European Commission's 2025 Safety Gate report recorded 4,671 validated alerts for dangerous non-food products and 5,794 follow-up enforcement actions across the EU and EEA — a 13% rise in alerts and a 35% jump in enforcement action compared with the year before, the highest figures since the system began. Electric appliances, toys and cosmetics led the categories. A marking that doesn't match the legal artwork is one of the fastest things for an inspector to flag, precisely because it doesn't require a lab.

What the CE mark actually is, geometrically

The CE mark isn't a stylised logotype a designer can recreate from a screenshot. It's defined in Annex II of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, which shows the two letters "C" and "E" drawn over a graduated square grid. Every curve, gap and stroke width is fixed relative to that grid, so the mark has one correct shape at any size. If you scale it up or down, every proportion has to scale with it, uniformly, in both directions. Stretch it, squash it, or redraw it "close enough" from memory or a low-resolution image pulled off Google, and you no longer have the marking described in law, whatever it looks like to the eye.

This is also why manufacturers are advised to source the artwork from an official vector file (EPS, AI or SVG traced from the Annex II grid) rather than typing "CE" in a font that resembles it. Most notified bodies, several EU member state authorities, and industry compliance publishers distribute a correctly gridded version for free; using one of those is the safest route to getting the geometry right first time.

The minimum height rule, and its one big exception

The default rule, set out in the same Annex, is a minimum height of 5mm for the CE marking wherever it's affixed. Below that height, the proportions become difficult to reproduce accurately and, more importantly, the mark becomes hard for an inspector or a consumer to actually read — which defeats the point of a mark that exists to be visible.

The exception is that a specific product directive can override this default if it sets its own minimum size for its own scope. This is genuinely rare for the electronics categories most manufacturers deal with (Low Voltage, EMC, Radio Equipment), where 5mm remains the applicable floor, but it's worth checking the specific directive text for your product category before assuming 5mm applies universally, particularly for niche machinery or medical device sub-categories with their own rules.

Where the mark is allowed to go

The general obligation is that the CE marking must be affixed visibly, legibly and indelibly to the product itself. "Indelibly" is doing real work in that sentence: a sticker that peels off in transit, or ink that rubs away with normal handling, doesn't satisfy the requirement even if it was correctly applied on day one.

Directives allow the mark to move to the packaging, or to accompanying documents, only when the product's nature makes direct marking genuinely impractical — too small, too soft, the wrong surface finish, or similar physical constraints. That's a narrower exception than it's often treated as. Manufacturers sometimes default to marking the box because it's more convenient, when the product itself is perfectly capable of carrying a compliant mark. If a market surveillance authority disagrees with your "impractical" judgement, the burden of justifying that decision sits with you, not with them.

The notified body number, when one applies

For the majority of general hardware, no notified body is involved at all, and no additional number appears next to the mark. Our notified body explainer covers when third-party assessment actually becomes mandatory. When it does apply, the notified body's four-digit identification number must be affixed immediately following the CE marking itself, in the same visual field, and that number is applied under the responsibility of the notified body (or, in practice, under instructions the manufacturer follows precisely) — not chosen or positioned at the manufacturer's discretion.

The look-alike mark that isn't CE marking at all

One recurring source of confusion, and of genuine compliance risk for importers, is a near-identical two-letter mark sometimes described informally as "China Export": the letters sit closer together than the genuine CE mark's grid allows, with a visibly tighter gap between the "C" and "E". It has no legal status under EU or UK conformity legislation, is not defined in any regulation, and does not indicate that any conformity assessment has taken place. Manufacturers and importers sourcing components or finished goods from unfamiliar suppliers should check the mark against the official Annex II proportions specifically, rather than confirming only that "a CE-shaped logo is present somewhere on the unit."

Comparing the two side by side against the actual legal requirements:

Genuine CE marking (Annex II, Regulation 765/2008):

• Letters "C" and "E" drawn to the fixed Annex II grid, with the characteristic wider gap between them
• Minimum height 5mm unless a specific directive sets a different floor
• Proportions preserved exactly when scaled up or down
• Confirms the manufacturer has completed a genuine conformity assessment and holds a technical file

Look-alike "China Export"-style mark:

• Letters drawn closer together, outside the Annex II proportions
• No minimum size, no grid, no governing regulation
• Not linked to any conformity assessment, technical file or Declaration of Conformity
• Presence tells an inspector, or a buyer, nothing about the product's actual compliance status

Getting the artwork before you ship, not after

The practical sequence, for a manufacturer preparing packaging or product tooling, is to finish the conformity assessment and hold a signed Declaration of Conformity and complete technical file first, then apply correctly sourced Annex II artwork at the confirmed minimum size to the product (or packaging, only where genuinely justified), and add a notified body number only if one is actually involved in your specific conformity route. Doing the artwork step before the assessment step is a common ordering mistake: it's not unusual for a manufacturer to have packaging printed with a CE mark before confirming which directives even apply to the product, which risks a costly reprint if the assessment changes what's actually required on the label.

As one compliance reviewer we work with put it while auditing a client's packaging proofs: "the logo was pixel-perfect and still wrong, because nobody had checked it traced back to the Annex II grid at the size it was actually printed — a mark that's correct on a laptop screen at 400% zoom can quietly fall out of proportion once it's shrunk to fit a two-centimetre label."

If you haven't yet confirmed which directives apply to your specific product, our free requirements checker is the faster starting point — the marking rules only matter once you know the underlying legislation you're marking against.

FAQ

What is the minimum size of the CE marking? 5mm in height by default, under Annex II of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, unless the specific directive covering your product sets a different minimum for its own scope.

Can I resize the CE marking logo freely? Only if every proportion of the letters scales together, in both directions, exactly as drawn on the Annex II grid. Stretching, squashing or hand-redrawing the mark produces a marking that no longer matches the legally defined shape.

Where can I get the official CE marking artwork? Source a correctly gridded vector file (EPS, AI or SVG) traced from Annex II of Regulation 765/2008, rather than recreating the letters from a low-resolution image or a similar-looking font.

Is the "CE" mark on some cheap imported electronics fake? Sometimes. A closely-spaced two-letter mark occasionally described as "China Export" is not the legal CE marking, is not defined in any EU or UK regulation, and does not indicate any conformity assessment has been carried out.

Do I need a notified body number next to the CE mark? Only if a notified body is actually involved in your product's conformity assessment route, which is the exception rather than the rule for standard electronics under Low Voltage, EMC and Radio Equipment directives. See our notified body guide for when it applies.

Whichever directives apply to your product, the marking is the last visible step of a process that starts with the requirements checker and ends with a correctly sized, correctly placed mark on a product backed by a real technical file.