# Meaning of CE on equipment

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-ce-on-equipment/233031>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 7, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-ce-on-equipment/233031 "2004-03-07T23:29:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![USNSPARKS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9fc348/32.png) [@USNSPARKS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USNSPARKS)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-ce-on-equipment/233031/1 "2004-03-07T23:29:17Z")

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A lot of electronic equipment I own has a CE on the back. The E look more like  
a ( with a small horixontal bar. Sort of like (- jammed together. What does this insignia mean? I’ve been seeing it for years.

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**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-ce-on-equipment/233031/2 "2004-03-07T23:34:56Z")

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I believe it’s something to do with the equipment fulfiling EU regulations - the same reasons many packages in your kitchen will have an “E” after the weight, telling you the measurment of that weight is accurate to EU requirements, and can therefore be sold anywhere in the EU. Irrelevant to us end consumers, but very important to wholesalers.

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**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-ce-on-equipment/233031/3 "2004-03-08T00:05:39Z")

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This is a classic column on the subject:  
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990402c.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990402c.html)

It stands for _conformité européenne_.