View source for Organization:International Electrotechnical Commission

{{short description|International standards organization}}

{{Use Oxford spelling|date=December 2011}}
{{Infobox organization
| native_name         = Commission électrotechnique internationale
|native_name_lang=fr
| image               = International Electrotechnical Commission Logo.svg
| caption             =
| map                 =
| abbreviation        = IEC
| formation           = {{date|26 June 1906}}, {{age|1906|June|26}} years old<br/>[[Place:London|London]], United Kingdom
| type                = [[Engineering:Standards organization|Standards organization]]
| status              = [[Social:Swiss association|Swiss association]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.zefix.ch/en/search/entity/list/firm/962758?name=International%20Electrotechnical%20Commission&searchType=exact| title=International Electrotechnical Commission (Commission Electrotechnique Internationale)| website=www.zefix.ch| publisher=Zefix – Central Business Name Index| access-date=2019-06-27}}</ref>
| purpose             = Standardization for electrical technology, electronics and related fields.
| headquarters        = [[Place:Geneva|Geneva]], Switzerland
| location            = {{collapsible list
|Geneva, Switzerland
|[[Place:Sydney|Sydney]], Australia
|São Paulo, Brazil
|[[Place:Nairobi|Nairobi]], Kenya
|[[Place:Singapore|Singapore]]
|Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
}}
| membership          = {{Collapsible list
|titlestyle = background-color: #f9f9f9; text-align: left; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3em;
|liststyle  = padding: 6px 0; background-color: none; text-align: left;
|framestyle = line-height: 2.0em; border: none; padding: 0;
|title      = 89 countries
|{{flag|Albania}}
|{{flag|Algeria}}
|{{flag|Argentina}}
|{{flag|Australia}}
|{{flag|Austria}}
|{{flag|Belarus}}
|{{flag|Belgium}}
|{{flag|Brazil}}
|{{flag|Bulgaria}}
|{{flag|Canada}}
|{{flag|Colombia}}
|{{flag|Chile}}
|{{flag|China}}
|{{flag|Croatia}}
|{{flag|Czech Republic}}
|{{flag|Denmark}}
|{{flag|Egypt}}
|{{flag|Finland}}
|{{flag|France}}
|{{flag|Germany}}
|{{flag|Ghana}}
|{{flag|Greece}}
|{{flag|Hungary}}
|{{flag|India}}
|{{flag|Indonesia}}
|{{flag|Iran}}
|{{flag|Iraq}}
|{{flag|Ireland}}
|{{flag|Israel}}
|{{flag|Italy}}
|{{flag|Japan}}
|{{flag|Libya}}
|{{flag|Luxembourg}}
|{{flag|Malaysia}}
|{{flag|Mexico}}
|{{flag|Netherlands}}
|{{flag|New Zealand}}
|{{flag|Norway}}
|{{flag|Oman}}
|{{flag|Pakistan}}
|{{flag|Philippines}}
|{{flag|Poland}}
|{{flag|Portugal}}
|{{flag|Qatar}}
|{{flag|Romania}}
|{{flag|Russia}}
|{{flag|Saudi Arabia}}
|{{flag|Serbia}}
|{{flag|Singapore}}
|{{flag|Slovakia}}
|{{flag|Slovenia}}
|{{flag|South Korea}}
|{{flag|South Africa}}
|{{flag|Spain}}
|{{flag|Sweden}}
|{{flag|Switzerland}}
|{{flag|Thailand}}
|{{flag|Turkey}}
|{{flag|Uganda}}
|{{flag|Ukraine}}
|{{flag|United Arab Emirates}}
|{{flag|United Kingdom}}
|{{flag|United States}}
}}
| languages           = English, French
| leader_title        = President
| leader_name         = Jo Cops<ref name=Officers>{{Citation | place = CH | url = http://www.iec.ch/about/profile/officers.htm | title = IEC Officers | publisher = International Electrotechnical Commission | year = 2020 | access-date = 2017-11-16 | archive-date = 2020-01-03 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200103081411/https://www.iec.ch/about/profile/officers.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref>
| leader_title2       = General Secretary
| leader_name2        = Philippe Metzger<ref name=Officers />
| main_organ          =
| parent_organization =
| affiliations        =
| staff               =
| volunteers          =
|
| remarks             =
| website             = {{Official URL}}
}}
The '''International Electrotechnical Commission''' ('''IEC'''; {{lang-fr|Commission électrotechnique internationale}}) is an international [[Engineering:Standards organization|standards organization]]<ref>{{Citation | place = CH | url = http://www.iec.ch/about/profile/funding.htm | title = IEC Organization and funding | publisher = International Electrotechnical Commission | year = 2017 | access-date = 2017-11-16 | archive-date = 2012-01-23 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120123051123/http://www.iec.ch/about/profile/funding.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | place = CH | url = https://www.eda.admin.ch/content/dam/mission-onu-omc-aele-geneve/en/documents/GI--en-chiffres_EN.pdf | title = International Geneva, Facts and Figures | publisher = Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations Office and to the other international organizations in Geneva | year = 2017}}</ref> that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, [[Engineering:Electronics|electronic]] and related technologies – collectively known as "electrotechnology". IEC standards cover a vast range of technologies from power generation, transmission and distribution to home appliances and office equipment, semiconductors, fibre optics, batteries, [[Physics:Solar energy|solar energy]], [[Engineering:Nanotechnology|nanotechnology]] and marine energy as well as many others. The IEC also manages four<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iec.ch/perspectives/government/iec_scope/scope_3.htm |title=What the IEC does – IEC conformity assessment systems |author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=International Electrotechnical Commission |access-date=2019-07-28}}</ref> global conformity assessment systems that certify whether equipment, system or components conform to its international standards.

All electrotechnologies are covered by IEC Standards, including energy production and distribution, electronics, magnetics and electromagnetics, electroacoustics, [[Engineering:Multimedia|multimedia]], [[Engineering:Telecommunication|telecommunication]] and medical technology, as well as associated general disciplines such as terminology and symbols, electromagnetic compatibility, measurement and performance, dependability, design and development, safety and the environment.

==History==
The first  [[International Electrical Congress]] took place in 1881 at the  International Exposition of Electricity, held in Paris. At that time the [[International System of Electrical and Magnetic Units]] was agreed to.

The International Electrotechnical Commission held its inaugural meeting on 26 June 1906, following discussions among the British [[Organization:Institution of Electrical Engineers|Institution of Electrical Engineers]], the [[Organization:American Institute of Electrical Engineers|American Institute of Electrical Engineers]], and others, which began at the 1900 Paris International Electrical Congress,{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}, with British engineer R. E. B. Crompton playing a key role. In 1906, [[Biography:William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin|Lord Kelvin]] was elected as the first President of the International Electrotechnical Commission.<ref>The Life of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs by Silvanus Phillips Thompson, CUP 2011, {{ISBN|1108027180}}, 9781108027182</ref>
[[File:International Electrotechnical Commission - Central Office - Geneva.jpg|thumb|250px|left|IEC central office in Geneva]]
The IEC was instrumental in developing and distributing standards for units of measurement, particularly the [[Physics:Gauss (unit)|gauss]], [[Hertz|hertz]], and [[Weber (unit)|weber]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Electrical Engineering for Non-Electrical Engineers|isbn=978-1482228830|date=2013-12-10|publisher=Fairmont Press }}</ref> It was also first to promote the Giorgi System of standards, later developed into the SI, or ''Système International d'unités'' (in English, the International System of Units).

In 1938, it published a multilingual international vocabulary to unify terminology relating to electrical, electronic and related technologies. This effort continues, and the [[Organization:International Electrotechnical Vocabulary|International Electrotechnical Vocabulary]] is published online as the ''Electropedia''.

The [[Engineering:CISPR|CISPR]] (''Comité International Spécial des Perturbations Radioélectriques'') – in English, the International Special Committee on Radio Interference – is one of the groups founded by the IEC.

Currently, 89 countries are IEC members<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iec.ch/dyn/www/f?p=103:5:0##ref=menu|title=National Committees &#124; IEC}}</ref> while another 85 participate in the Affiliate Country Programme,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iec.ch/dyn/www/f?p=103:9:0|title = Affiliate Country &#124; IEC}}</ref> which is not a form of membership but is designed to help industrializing countries get involved with the IEC. Originally located in [[Place:London|London]], the IEC moved to its current headquarters in [[Place:Geneva|Geneva]], Switzerland in 1948.

It has regional centres in Africa ([[Place:Nairobi|Nairobi]], Kenya), Asia ([[Place:Singapore|Singapore]]), Oceania ([[Place:Sydney|Sydney]], Australia), Latin America (São Paulo, Brazil) and North America (Worcester, Massachusetts, United States).

The work is done by some 10,000 electrical and electronics experts from industry, government, academia, test labs and others with an interest in the subject.

IEC Standards are often adopted as national standards by its members.

==IEC Standards==

[[File:IEC cable angled.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Cable with an angled IEC connector (IEC 60320 C13) and an EU plug (CEE 7/7).]]
The IEC cooperates closely with the [[Organization:International Organization for Standardization|International Organization for Standardization (ISO)]] and the [[Organization:International Telecommunication Union|International Telecommunication Union (ITU)]]. In addition, it works with several major standards development organizations, including the IEEE with which it signed a cooperation agreement in 2002, which was amended in 2008 to include joint development work.

IEC Standards that are not jointly developed with ISO have numbers in the range 60000–79999 and their titles take a form such as ''IEC 60417: Graphical symbols for use on equipment''. Following the Dresden Agreement with [[Organization:European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization|CENELEC]] the numbers of older IEC standards were converted in 1997 by adding 60000, for example IEC 27 became IEC 60027. Standards of the 60000 series are also found preceded by EN to indicate that the IEC standard is also adopted by CENELEC as a European standard; for example IEC 60034 is also available as EN 60034.

Standards developed jointly with ISO, such as ISO/IEC 26300 (''Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) v1.0''), ISO/IEC 27001 (''Information technology, Security techniques, Information security management systems, Requirements''), and ISO/IEC 17000 series, carry the acronym of both organizations. The use of the ISO/IEC prefix covers publications from ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 – ''Information Technology'', as well as conformity assessment standards developed by ISO CASCO (Committee on conformity assessment) and IEC CAB (Conformity Assessment Board). Other standards developed in cooperation between IEC and ISO are assigned numbers in the 80000 series, such as IEC 82045–1.

IEC Standards are also being adopted by other certifying bodies such as BSI (United Kingdom), CSA (Canada), UL & ANSI/INCITS (United States), SABS (South Africa), Standards Australia, SPC/GB (China) and DIN (Germany). IEC standards adopted by other certifying bodies may have some noted differences from the original IEC standard.<ref>[http://webstore.iec.ch IEC Webstore | Welcome]. Webstore.iec.ch.</ref>

==Membership and participation==
[[File:IEC membership.png|thumb|300px|right|A map of IEC membership as of April 2012
{{legend|#008000|Full members}}
{{legend|#00ff00|Associate members}}
{{legend|#ff8040|Affiliates}}
]]

The IEC is made up of members, called national committees, and each NC represents its nation's electrotechnical interests in the IEC. This includes manufacturers, providers, distributors and vendors, consumers and users, all levels of governmental agencies, professional societies and trade associations as well as standards developers from national standards bodies. National committees are constituted in different ways. Some NCs are public sector only, some are a combination of public and private sector, and some are private sector only. About 90% of those who prepare IEC standards work in industry.<ref>[http://www.iec.ch/dyn/www/f?p=103:5:0 IEC full and associate members]</ref> IEC Member countries include:

===Full members===
{{col div|colwidth=20em}}
* {{flag|Algeria}}
* {{flag|Argentina}}
* {{flag|Australia}}
* {{flag|Austria}}
* {{flag|Belarus}}
* {{flag|Belgium}}
* {{flag|Brazil}}
* {{flag|Bulgaria}}
* {{flag|Canada}}
* {{flag|Colombia}}
* {{flag|Chile}}
* {{flag|China}}
* {{flag|Croatia}}
* {{flag|Czech Republic}}
* {{flag|Denmark}}
* {{flag|Egypt}}
* {{flag|Finland}}
* {{flag|France}}
* {{flag|Germany}}
* {{flag|Greece}}
* {{flag|Hungary}}
* {{flag|India}}
* {{flag|Indonesia}}
* {{flag|Iran}}
* {{flag|Iraq}}
* {{flag|Ireland}}
* {{flag|Israel}}
* {{flag|Italy}}
* {{flag|Japan}}
* {{flag|Kuwait}}
* {{flag|Libya}}
* {{flag|Luxembourg}}
* {{flag|Malaysia}}
* {{flag|Mexico}}
* {{flag|Netherlands}}
* {{flag|New Zealand}}
* {{flag|Nigeria}}
* {{flag|Norway}}
* {{flag|Oman}}
* {{flag|Pakistan}}
* {{flag|Perú}}
* {{flag|Philippines}}
* {{flag|Poland}}
* {{flag|Portugal}}
* {{flag|Qatar}}
* {{flag|Romania}}
* {{flag|Russia}}
* {{flag|Saudi Arabia}}
* {{flag|Serbia}}
* {{flag|Singapore}}
* {{flag|Slovakia}}
* {{flag|Slovenia}}
* {{flag|South Korea}}
* {{flag|South Africa}}
* {{flag|Spain}}
* {{flag|Sweden}}
* {{flag|Switzerland}}
* {{flag|Thailand}}
* {{flag|Turkey}}
* {{flag|Ukraine}}
* {{flag|United Arab Emirates}}
* {{flag|United Kingdom}}
* {{flag|United States}}
* {{flag|Nepal}}
{{col div end}}

===Associate members (limited voting and managerial rights)===
{{col div|colwidth=20em}}
* {{flag|Albania}}<ref name="faff">Formerly participating in the affiliate programme.</ref>
* {{flag|Bahrain}}
* {{flag|Bangladesh}}
* {{flag|Bosnia & Herzegovina}}
* {{flag|Cuba}}
* {{flag|Cyprus}}
* {{flag|Democratic People's Republic of Korea}}
* {{flag|Estonia}}
* {{flag|Ethiopia}}                          
* {{flag|Georgia (country)|Georgia}}<ref name="faff"/>
* {{flag|Ghana}}
* {{flag|Iceland}}
* {{flag|Jordan}}<ref name="faff"/>
* {{flag|Kazakhstan}}
* {{flag|Kenya}}
* {{flag|Latvia}}
* {{flag|Lithuania}}
* {{flag|North Macedonia}}
* {{flag|Malta}}
* {{flag|Moldova}}<ref name="faff"/>
* {{flag|Montenegro}}
* {{flag|Morocco}}
* {{flag|Sri Lanka}}
* {{flag|Tunisia}}
* {{flag|Vietnam}}
* {{flag|Uganda}}
{{col div end}}

===Affiliates===
In 2001 and in response to calls from the WTO to open itself to more developing nations, the IEC launched the Affiliate Country Programme to encourage developing nations to become involved in the commission's work or to use its International Standards. Countries signing a pledge to participate in the work and to encourage the use of IEC Standards in national standards and regulations are granted access to a limited number of technical committee documents for the purposes of commenting. In addition, they can select a limited number of IEC Standards for their national standards' library.<ref>[http://www.iec.ch/dyn/www/f?p=103:9:0 IEC affiliates]</ref> Countries participating in the Affiliate Country Programme are:
{{col div|colwidth=20em}}
* Afghanistan
* Angola
* Antigua and Barbuda
* [[Place:Armenia|Armenia]]
* [[Place:Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan]]
* Barbados
* Belize
* Benin
* Bhutan
* Bolivia
* Botswana
* Brunei
* Burkina Faso
* Burundi
* Cabo Verde
* Cambodia
* Cameroon
* Central African Republic
* Chad
* Comoros
* Congo (Rep. of)
* Congo (Democratic Rep. of)
* Costa Rica
* Côte d'Ivoire
* [[Earth:Dominica|Dominica]]
* Dominican Republic
* Ecuador
* El Salvador
* Eritrea
* Eswatini
* Fiji
* Gabon
* Grenada
* Guatemala
* Guinea
* Guinea Bissau
* Guyana
* Haiti
* Honduras
* Jamaica
* Kyrgyzstan
* Laos
* [[Place:Lebanon|Lebanon]]
* Lesotho
* {{wipe|Madagascar}}
* Malawi
* Mali
* Mauritania
* [[Earth:Mauritius|Mauritius]]
* Mongolia
* Mozambique
* Myanmar
* Namibia
* Nepal
* Niger
* [[Place:State of Palestine|Palestine]]
* Panama
* Papua New Guinea
* Paraguay
* [[Biology:Rwanda|Rwanda]]
* Saint Lucia
* Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
* São Tomé and Príncipe
* Senegal
* Seychelles
* Sierra Leone
* South Sudan
* Sudan
* Suriname
* Syrian Arab Republic
* Tanzania
* The Gambia
* Togo
* Trinidad and Tobago
* Turkmenistan
* Uruguay
* Uzbekistan
* Venezuela
* Yemen
* Zambia
* Zimbabwe
{{col div end}}

== Technical information ==
* [http://tc3.iec.ch Graphical Symbols]
* [http://tc4.iec.ch Hydraulic Turbines]
* [http://tc17.iec.ch Switchgear] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190910055302/http://tc17.iec.ch/ |date=2019-09-10 }}
* [http://tc56.iec.ch Dependability]
* [http://tc57.iec.ch Power Systems Management]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070114210453/http://tc86.iec.ch/ Fibre Optics]
* [https://www.iec.ch/dyn/www/f?p=103:7:0::::FSP_ORG_ID:1297 Audio, video and multimedia systems and equipment]

== Standards and tools published in database format ==
* [http://std.iec.ch/iec60050 International Electrotechnical Vocabulary]
* [http://std.iec.ch/glossary IEC Glossary]
* [http://std.iec.ch/iec60061 IEC 60061: Lamp caps, lampholders and gauges]
* [http://www.graphical-symbols.info/equipment IEC 60417 Graphical Symbols for Use on Equipment]
* [http://std.iec.ch/iec60617 IEC 60617: Graphical Symbols for Diagrams]

==See also==
* [[Organization:International Organization for Standardization|International Organization for Standardization]]
* [[Organization:International Telecommunication Union|International Telecommunication Union]]
* [[Organization:World Standards Cooperation|World Standards Cooperation]]
* [[Engineering:List of IEC standards|List of IEC standards]]
* List of IEC technical committees

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==


[[Category:Electrical engineering organizations]]

{{Sourceattribution|International Electrotechnical Commission}}