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Ref. No.: IS0 / R 216 - 1961 (E)
UDC 676
IS0
I N T ER N AT1 ON A L
O RG A N I ZAT I O N FOR STA N D AR D I Z AT I O N
IS0 RECOMMENDATION
R 216
TRIMMED SIZES OF WRITING PAPER
AND CERTAIN CLASSES OF PRINTED MATTER
1st EDITION
November 1961
COPYRIGHT RESERVED
The copyright of IS0 Recommendations and IS0 Standards
belongs to IS0 Member Bodies. Reproduction of these
documents, in any country, may be authorized therefore only
by the national standards organization of that country, being
a member of ISO.
For each individual country the only valid standard is the national standard of that country.
Printed in Switzerland
Also issued in French and Russian. Copies to be obtained through the national standards organizations.
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BRIEF HISTORY
The IS0 Recommendation R 216, Trimmed Sizes of Writing Paper and Certain Classes
of Printed Matter, was drawn up by Technical Committee ISO/TC 6, Paper, the Secretariat
of which is held by the Association Française de Normalisation (AFNOR).
Work on this question by the Technical Committee began in 1958 and led in 1959
to the adoption of a Draft IS0 Recommendation.
In November 1959, this Draft IS0 Recommendation (No. 330) was circulated to all
the IS0 Member Bodies for enquiry. It was approved, subject to a few modifications of
an editorial nature, by the following Member Bodies:
India Sweden
Austria
Israel Switzerland
Belgium
Japan Turkey
Burma
Chile New Zealand United Kingdom
Czechoslovakia Norway U.S.S.R.
Denmark Poland Yugoslavia
Portugal
Germany
Greece Romania
Two Member Bodies opposed the approval of the Draft:
France Ireland
The Draft IS0 Recommendation was then submitted by correspondence to the IS0
Council, which decided, in November 1961, to accept it as an IS0 RECOMMENDATION.
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FOREWORD
In many countries, far more sizes of paper are used than are really necessary. Many
of them came into existence under conditions different from those prevailing today, while
the origin of others was due to chance. Consequently they do not fulfil the present need for
consistency between the sizes of paper and printed matter for various purposes, nor do
they meet the many requirements for a coherent relationship between the sizes of paper,
printed or not, papermaking, printing and converting machinery and equipment, and
storage and filing equipment.
The purpose of this IS0 Recommendation is to improve the present position by
providing a rationally designed IS0 System of trimmed sizes which can bring about a
reduction in the number of sizes and create more rational, clear and consistent ranges.
This will simplify and cheapen ordering, production, use, dispatch and storage and will
also provide a sound basis for standardization in related fields.
One of the considerations leading to the present IS0 Recommendation was the fact
that the standards bodies in the following countries had already adopted this system of
sizes in their national standards, and others were known to be using the sizes:
Date of adoption Countries Standard No.
1922 Germany DIN 476
1924 Belgium NBN 18
1925 Netherlands NEN 381
1926 Norway NS 20
1927 Finland SFS P.I. 1
1929 Switzerland SNV 10120
1934 U.S.S.R. GOST 9327
1938 Hungary MOSz 16
UNI 923-924
1939 Italy
1941 Sweden SIS 73 O1 O1
1943 Argentina IRAM 3001-N.P.
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1943 Brazil
1947 Spain UNE 1011
A 1001
1948 Austria
1949 Romania STAS 570 - 52
1951 Japan JIS P 0138
1953 Denmark DS 910
1953 Czechoslovakia CSN O1 0402
1954 Israel S.I. 117
NP-4 and NP-17
1954 Portugal
IS:1064
1957 India
1957 Poland PN-5 5/P-0200 1
1959 United Kingdom B.S. 3176
The Universal Postal Union has specified certain of these sizes.
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iSO/ R 216 - 1981 (E)
IS0 Recommendation R 216 November 1961
TRIMMED SIZES OF WRITING PAPER
AND CERTAIN CLASSES OF PRINTED MATTER
1. SCOPE
This IS0 Recommendation applies to trimmed sizes of paper for administrative, commercial
and technical use, and also to certain classes of printed matter, such as forms, catalogues, etc.
It does not necessarily apply to
newspapers,
published books,
posters,
other special items which may be the subject of separate IS0 Recommendations.
2. UNDERLYiNG PRINCIPLES
2.1 Basic principles (regularly derived sizes)
The system of paper sizes is built on the following basis: each normal series (regularly
derived sizes) consists of a range of sizes formed in such a manner that each size is achieved
by dividing the size immediately above it into two equal parts, the division being parallel
to the shorter side (the halving principle). Consequently the areas of two successive sizes
2 : 1 (see Fig. I).
are in the ratio
All the sizes in each series are geometrically similar to one another (the principle of similar-
ity) (see Fig. 2). This requirement, combined with that explained in the preceding paragraph,
gives the following equation for the sides x and y of a given size:
(see Fig. 3)
(I) y : x = rJ%: 1 = 1.
...