Global Relevance

The global relevance of IEC Standards is not accepted by some countries especially the USA. Since the year 2000 this matter has been therefore discussed several times by IEC Standardisation Management Board (SMB) and IEC Council Board (CB). A working group within the CB has worked out a proposal which was accepted unanimously by the CB.

From now on it will be possible to allow different climatic and infrastructural requirements as part of the standards. By this the actual practice of several bodies will be introduced into IEC rules. Those requirements which are accepted will be thus considered as equally entitled and they will be no longer declared national deviations. To avoid new interpretations the following reasons for infrastructural requirements were defined: different voltage levels, current ranges, frequencies, earthing systems and climatic conditions.

Alternative requirements based on different conditions can only be included in a standard  with the agreement  of the relevant  technical committee. If the TC cannot agree the management level is consulted. In this way it is hoped to avoid the widespread introduction of alternative requirements which could affect the integrity of the standards. 

For the right adoption of the new rules TC/SC secretaries will be guided by a training program of the Directive Maintenance Team (DMT)  After two years the applicability of the procedure and the impact on the national adoption of the standards will be revised.

To evaluate the impact of this new situation on standards under the scope of CECAPI, a CECAPI Working Group Global Relevance was established at the end of 2002.