Product safety
This topic is horizontal, cutting across many different industry sectors, but is important to mention because national / regional legislation deal to a high degree with product safety, which is subject to many IEC and ISO publications.
In regulated areas like safety, the preferred publication is the International Standard and not a Technical Specification or a Technical Report.
Who is involved?
The IEC has an Advisory Committee on Safety (ACOS) which is mandated to prepare basic safety publications and ensure consistency of IEC standards in areas common to a number of TCs. Several IEC TCs nominate members to the committee:

High-voltage switchgear and controlgear
Electrical accessories
Safety of household and similar electrical appliances
Electrical equipment in medical practice
Electrical installations and protection against electric shock
System aspects
Safety of measuring, control and laboratory equipment
Solar photovoltaic energy systems
Fire hazard testing
Safety of electronic equipment within the field of audio/video, information technology and communication technology
Insulation co-ordination for low-voltage equipment
How is regulatory cooperation in this field achieved?
Every two or three years, ACOS holds a workshop to both create greater awareness within product technical committees on the roles of safety aspects and to involve users and regulators in discussions on the benefit of the implementation of IEC safety publications. Policy makers are encouraged to attend the ACOS workshops.
Examples of relevant standardization activities
The two "sister standards" IEC 60204 series and ISO 12100 are closely related to regulatory aspects. Both standards are transposed as national / regional standards across the world, including in Europe, US, China, Japan and many other countries and their closely related regulatory activities.
Further examples of horizontal safety standards include:
- IEC 61140 (protection against electric shock)
- IEC 60529 (protection by enclosures)
- IEC 60664 (Insulation coordination for equipment within low-voltage systems)
In the area of group safety and product standards, the following could be regarded as highly "regulatory relevant":
- IEC 60335 series (household appliances)
- IEC 60950 Safety of information technology equipment
- IEC 60598 Luminaries
- IEC 60601 Medical electrical equipment
The EN versions of these standards, for example, are listed in the Official Journal of the European Commission to support the respective European Directives. The application of these standards also leads to acceptance of products by the authorities in countries such as the United States and China.
Navigation and communications
Measuring efficiency
Rapidly evolving and highly regulated
Measuring energy performance
Dependent on electric and electronic components
Cutting across many different industry sectors
Protection from interference
Electrical equipment and systems for railways
Safety, security and the environment
Power consumption tests
Test procedures