Well from what I can find out about ER from Rego-Fix (the company who patented them in 1973) it was simply the mark they used when setting up that type of collet. It was later moved over to a DIN number 6499 (which nobody pretty much uses including Rego-Fix). They claim that they product has <3um of TIR (which considering the cost of their parts I hope so). Hope that helps.

Michael