European Union: Official specifications for the flag

Last modified: 2008-02-03 by ivan sache
Keywords: european union | construction sheet | stars: 12 (yellow) | stars: 12 (blue) |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

Construction sheet for the European Union flag - Image by Željko Heimer, 14 August 2000

• Geometrical specifications of the European Union flag
• Colour specifications of the European Union flag
  • Former colour specifications of the European Union flag

See also:

• European Union
• European Union: Erroneous flags

Geometrical specifications of the European Union flag

Quoting the official website of the European Union:

The emblem is in the form of a blue rectangular flag of which the fly is one and a half times the length of the hoist. Twelve gold stars situated at equal intervals form an invisible circle whose centre is the point of intersection of the diagonals of the rectangle. The radius of the circle is equal to one-third of the height of the hoist. Each of the stars has five points which are situated on the circumference of an invisible circle whose radius is equal to one-eighteenth of the height of the hoist. All the stars are upright - that is to say, with the one point vertical and two points in a straight line at right angles to the mast. The circle is arranged so that the stars appear in the position of the hours on the face of a clock. Their number is invariable.

Pascal Gross, 14 August 2000

Colour specifications of the European Union flag

European Union flag: current colours - Image by Željko Heimer, 1 May 2004

Quoting the official website of the European Union:

The emblem is in the following colours:

Pantone Reflex Blue for the surface of the rectangle; Pantone Yellow for the stars. The international Pantone range is very widely available and easily accessible even for non-professionals.

Four-colour process

If the four-colour process is used, it is not possible to use the two standard colours. It is therefore necessary to recreate them by using the four colours of the four-colour process. The Pantone Yellow is obtained by using 100% Process Yellow. By mixing 100% Process Cyan and 80% Process Magenta one can get a colour very similar to the Pantone Reflex Blue.

Internet

Pantone Reflex Blue corresponds in the web-palette colour RGB:0/0/153 (hexadecimal: 000099) and Pantone Yellow corresponds in the web-palette colour RGB:255/204/0 (hexadecimal: FFCC00).

Pascal Gross, 14 August 2000

Former colour specifications of the European Union flag

European Union flag: former colours - Image by Željko Heimer, 14 May 2004

A golden shade was prescribed for the stars in the Guide Graphique du Drapeau des Communautés Européennes of 29 May 1986. However, in the Graphic Manual produced by the Council of Europe, Strasbourg/Brussels, 1996, the colours are given as in Pantone as Yellow and Reflex Blue, and in the four-colour system as 100% Process Yellow and 100% Process Cyan + 80% Process Magenta = the correct blue. There is no change in the construction diagram.

Christopher Southworth, 9 December 2003