The reversed epsilon ∃ on aerosol cans
The person who puts the can on the market declares that the aerosol dispenser meets the EU aerosol directive: its construction, the pressure limits at 50 °C, the tests every filled can must pass, and the labelling.
How to read it
Article 8 lists what every can must carry: the name and address or trade mark of the person responsible, the reversed epsilon, a code identifying the filling batch, the hazard labelling from point 2.2 of the Annex, and the net contents by weight and by volume. On cans of 150 ml or less these may be on an attached label. The hazard warnings sit beside it: a flammable spray carries the GHS flame, a non-flammable one still carries the warning for Aerosols Category 3.
What it does not promise
It does not promise that the contents are safe, non-flammable or suitable for your skin — it is about the can as a pressure container. The flame pictogram and the words ‘Danger’ or ‘Warning’ tell you about flammability, not this mark. It is a self-declaration by the person placing the can on the market, not a test certificate from an independent body.
This page explains what a symbol or mark on the pack means in law or in the scheme’s own rules. It is not advice on whether a product or an ingredient is safe for you or suits your skin: for that, read the product’s warnings and ask a pharmacist or doctor.
- What it looks like
- A small rounded mark like a backwards ε (or a curly 3), printed on deodorant, hairspray, dry-shampoo and shaving-foam cans, usually near the batch code and the net contents.
- Legal reference
- Council Directive 75/324/EEC, Article 3 and Article 8(1)(b)
- Also called
- inverted epsilon; reversed epsilon; backwards 3 on a spray can; aerosol conformity mark
Good to know
Article 4 of the directive says member states may not refuse a can that complies, so the mark also works as a free-movement passport within the EU. Metal aerosol containers may hold at most 1,000 ml (Annex point 3.1).
Related
Other marks with the same shape
Sources
Each document was fetched and read on the date shown. Written in our own words; quotations are the documents’ wording.
- Legal text — legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives), EU text as at 31 December 2020: Council Directive 75/324/EEC on aerosol dispensers — Article 3 — Article 3: the person responsible for marketing ‘shall affix the symbol “3” (inverted epsilon) to aerosol dispensers, as proof that they satisfy the requirements of this Directive and the Annex thereto’. Checked 2026-09-26.
- Legal text — legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives), EU text as at 31 December 2020: Council Directive 75/324/EEC on aerosol dispensers — Article 8, labelling — Article 8(1): each aerosol dispenser (or, at 150 ml or less, a label attached to it) must bear the responsible person’s name and address or trade mark, ‘the symbol “3” (inverted epsilon) certifying conformity with the requirements of this Directive’, batch code markings, the Annex 2.2 details and the net contents by weight and by volume. Checked 2026-09-26.
- Legal text — legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives), EU text as at 31 December 2020: Council Directive 75/324/EEC on aerosol dispensers — Annex (construction, labelling, tests) — Annex point 2.2 Labelling: signal word ‘Warning’ or ‘Danger’ and the label elements for Aerosols Category 1, 2 or 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, plus precautionary statement P102 on consumer products; point 3.1: metal containers of at most 1,000 ml. Checked 2026-09-26.