An apparatus for the production of film tube, which can be filled with liquid, viscous or granular filling material, from a film strip. The apparatus comprises: a filling pipe connectable to a filling machine for the filling material, a shaping device surrounding the filling pipe for shaping the film strip into a film tube, a sealing device arranged downstream of the shaping device in the filling ejection direction for sealing longitudinal edges of the film strip, which are adjacent after the shaping operation, to form a film tube, an advance drive for the film tube, a writing device arranged upstream of the shaping device in the filling ejection direction for applying printed markings to the film strip, a first reading device arranged downstream of the shaping device in the filling ejection direction and a second reading device) arranged upstream of the shaping device in the filling ejection direction for reading printed markings applied to the film strip. The writing device is capable of applying to the film strip at least one printed marking whose electromagnetic spectrum is outside visible light and the first and the second reading devices are capable of detecting said printed markings.