IT aspects of the euro currency sign

1. Introduction

This document discusses the euro currency sign and IT (information technology). The document will change as the situation changes. Verify that you have the latest version [IT-EURO].

Some of the information in this document are of the following types:

Completed items

For example, the entity € is already included in HTML 4.0. A short description and references are included.

Propositions

By the author of this document or other parties. They should not be implemented at the present time as they could be dropped or changed.

This is a very dynamic field and the information will often change. It is recommended to check the primary sources; e.g., the European Commission.

2. Euro

The euro is the European Union currency that should be introduced from the 1 January 1999. For details, including the euro glyph, consult the official euro pages [EURO] at the Europa server.

Reference: European Commission [EC].

3. Euro Currency Conformant

Author's proposition.

An Euro Currency Conformant label is proposed. Products that follow certain criteria could be allowed to display the label. This label could be used as a requirement in call for tenders. The label must be controlled by of the European Institutions/Bodies such as the European Commission [EC] or the European Central Bank [ECB].

Reference: the author.

4. Seven and eight bits

Author's proposition.

4.1 A soft approach

Probably, the easiest solution (i.e., problem avoidance) could be not to place the EURO SIGN in seven (and/or eight) bits and create the convention:

when the EURO SIGN is missing use the LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E (0x45).

For example, E123. If this is unceptable, one has to go into a technical solution.

4.2 A hard approach

Today, most computer systems use 7 and 8 bits character sets. For the euro, one has to re-adapt present computer systems and facilitate the introduction of new computer systems in the most economical way.

Two new character sets are proposed:

euro-ASCII

The same as ASCII (ISO 646), but replacing the position CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT (position 5E) by the EURO SIGN (U+20AC). Another name for this character set could be ESCII.

euro-Latin1

The same as Latin1 (ISO 8859-1), but replacing the position CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT (position 5E) by the EURO SIGN (U+20AC).

i.e,

Table	Position number	Glyph	Name
ASCII and Latin1	5E	^	CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT
euro-ASCII and euro-Latin1	5E		EURO SIGN

More:

• From an informal point of view, it could be regarded as replacing one glyph in the ASCII table.
• Easy to re-use present equipment. For example, no need for new keyboard drivers.
• Easy to implement in new equipment.
• If the euro glyph is not present, the only side effect is that ^ will be printed.
• Present in the qwerty and other keyboards.
• Users with the non-euro keyboards, will press the key corresponding to the ^.
• In the new keyboards lay-out with the ^, the euro should be placed on the same position.
• The position 5E (^) is little used.

Forbidding the use in 7 and 8 bits will not work as there is a real need for a position. There are two options: doing nothing or recommending a position. If no position is recommended, one will be used; probably different people will pick up different positions. It is better to discuss the situation and recommend a position that is the less bad; admittedly, there are no good position in 7 and 8 bits.

One must always make clear that it is strongly recommended to avoid the use of 7 or 8 bits for the euro. Using 7 or 8 bits for the euro must be considered a last resort. At least the following alternative must be considered first:

• Unicode.
• The € entity.
• The EUR currency code (ISO 4217).
• The word euro.

In ISO-8859-15 (Latin-0), the position for the EURO SIGN is at A4 [ISO-8859-15]. This does not solve the 7 bits problem as the position is above 7F (it is in the upper table). It is a bad position as this corresponds to the ISO-8859-1 (Latin-1) CURRENCY SIGN (¤). Positions choosen for the euro must not have any currency sign in other coding schemes, even as little used as the CURRENCY SIGN. Also, Microsoft has choosen position 0x80 (see Windows below).

Reference: the author.

5. Unicode

The euro is in Unicode 2.1.

Unicode position	Glyph	Name
U+20AC		EURO SIGN

For details, see the relevant section in the Unicode Technical Report #8 [UTR8].

Warning : The following position in Unicode Version 2.0 is not the euro even if the word euro is part of the description.

Reference: Unicode Consortium [UNICODE].

6. Glyph registration

The glyph has been registered with the identity 8059 for ISO-10036 [ISO-10036], Information technology -- Font information interchange -- Procedures for the registration of font-related identifiers

Reference: Association for Font Information Interchange [AFII].

7. OCR-B

Good progress. See the DRAFT Report on the Euro Glyph in OCR-B [OCRB]. The objective is to incorporate the euro glyph into Alphanumeric character sets for optical recognition -- Part2: Character set OCR-B -- Shapes and dimensions of the printed image [ISO-1073-2].

Reference: [TC304].

8. HTML

HTML 4.0 [HTML40] includes the new entity:

To make the intention clearer, it is recommended that this entity be used in preference to the:

• 7 or 8 bits code corresponding to the position of the euro (5E). Some systems will not support the euro in 7 or/and 8 bits.

• Unicode numeric value of the euro ( € or € ). Browsers that cannot display the glyph will display the numeric value or the entity. It is clearer to see the name of the entity.

The Euro Currency Conformant status of the browsers is:
(this is probably obsolete; check yourself with the table below and inform the author of changes)

• The entity € : Internet Explorer 5.0 (beta), Netscape 4.06 (with UTF-8).
• Unicode decimal notation (€) : Internet Explorer 4.0, Internet Explorer 5.0 (beta), Netscape 4.06 (with UTF-8).
• Unicode hex notation (€) : Internet Explorer 5.0 (beta).

To check the conformance of your browser see how the following table is displayed:

Reference: World Wide Web Consortium [W3C].

9. Currency code

The euro has been registered in Codes for the representation of currencies and funds [ISO-4217].

The alpha code is EUR and the numeric code is 978.

Reference: British Standard Institution [BSI].

10. TV teletext

The EURO SIGN will not work in old system and it should work in new systems (level 2.5). Hence, some soft approach (see above) will be needed for old systems.

The EURO SIGN is in the G2 character set table at position 5/6 in ETS 300 706: Enhanced Teletext specifications [ETS 300 706]. Additional information at UK Broadcasting Webring [MACGREGOR] and in the posting by Payea [PAYEA].

Reference: European Telecommunications Standards Institute [ETSI].

11. Sorting

The euro is the in projected sorting standard ISO-12991.

Reference:

12. Keyboards

There is a proposition [EC-KB] to place the euro at AltGr+e (Ctrl+AltGr+e has the same effect). If the above 7 and 8 bits proposition was implemented, the keyboard problem would be solved.

Reference:

13. Telephone keypads

Who is working on this ?

14. Bar codes

There is some work on this area.

Reference: Automatic Identification and Data Capture Techniques Subcommittee [ISO-SC-31].

15. Braille

Who is working on this ?

Reference:

16. Macintosh

It can be done with Unicode or GX. The euro glyph is available from Maccampus [MACCAMPUS]

Reference: Apple Computers [APPLE].

17. Windows

Microsoft Windows 95 and NT supports the euro through Unicode (see above) and codepages. It can be typed (input methods) from a table or directly from the keyboard. This requires the installation of fonts with the euro (so it can be displayed) and a new keyboard driver (so it can be typed). These items can be downloaded from Microsoft [MS]. Notes on the Euro Symbol [GRAY] comments of applications.

Microsoft has choosen the position 0x80 for several codepages and in particular for cp1252 [CP1252]. cp1252 is similar to Latin-1; the difference is that the positions 0x80 to 0x9F are reserved [WENDT]. This should have an effect on the popularization of ISO-8859-15 [ISO-8859-15].

In addition to Windows, one needs solutions for other systems. In particular, 7 and 8 bits systems.

Reference: Microsoft [MS].

18. Localization

{ This section will be expanded}.

It would help to have a default (or multicultural) agreement. Though, this could be different for each cultural entity.

Also, the word euro has as to be considered.

Some posibilities

19. Face examples

(if your system supports the euro)

For more examples look at Notes on the Euro Symbol [GRAY].

20. Publicity

There must be publicity directed to the:

IT vendors

Mainly on the approved euro glyph, the positions in 7 bits, 8 bits, Unicode and the implementation of the € entity. Otherwise the computer equipment needed would not be available with the correct glyph; for example, if a programmer in San Jose were requested to introduce the euro currency sign, he would probably consult the Unicode book and use the wrong position (U+20A0) and glyph (CE).

End user

Mainly on which alternative to use.

Reference: the author.

21. Acknowledgment

This document makes heavy use from the documents cited in the reference list. In particular, the TC304 reports.

The following people also contributed with comments:

• John Gray
• Danny Payea
• Luis Rosety
• Ken Thompson

22. References

23. Disclaimer

The information is provided without guarantee. It is strongly recommended always to verify the primary sources. This is a field that is moving very fast and the information ages accordingly; in particular, regarding the support of the euro by products. This document represents only the views of the author.

24. Author

Comments to euro@dragoman.org.