ISO 2846-1:2017 specifies the colour and transparency characteristics that are to be met by each ink in a process colour ink set intended for proof and production printing using offset lithography. The specified printing conditions (which use a laboratory printability tester), the defined substrate and a method for testing to ensure conformance are also defined. Characteristics are specified for inks used for sheet-fed, heat-set web and radiation-curing processes.

ISO 2846-1:2017 does not apply to fluorescent inks and it does not specify pigments (or spectral characteristics ? except informatively) in order not to preclude developments which may enable different pigment combinations to be used advantageously while still achieving the colorimetric requirements specified in this document.