TÜV SÜD warns of new safety standard deadline

On 20th December, IEC 62368 will supersede two standards that the industry has been familiar with for over a decade (IEC 60065 and IEC 60950). After this date, manufacturers will no longer benefit from the valuable ‘presumption of conformity’ offered by the superseded standards and will have to produce a sound technical rationale as to why they comply.

IEC 62368 introduces a completely new methodology and it is the first time that a hazard-based test approach is required for these product types. IEC 62368 not only relates to the end product but to components and subsystems, such as power supplies, hard drives and fans.

Richard Poate, Senior Manager at TÜV SÜD, explained: “The introduction of IEC 62368 goes beyond a merger of the two old standards as it has a different structure and demands significant changes to safety testing. Manufacturers that have not taken advantage of the standard’s transition period now have less than two months to make these fundamental changes. However, jumping straight into full testing can be expensive and risky. Our advice would be to conduct a pre-compliance review and identify what is needed to make the product compliant to the new standard.”

Product types covered by IEC 62368 include:

• Computing and networking products
• Consumer electronics
• Displays and display units
• Telecommunication products
• Office appliances
• Other types of audio/video, information and communication technology equipment