Iec

Table Of Content Background of IEC

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In the beginning...

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The founding of the IEC

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History

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Mission

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Objectives

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Standards

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Who produces the standards?

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Preparation stages for standards

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Members

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International partners

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International Standardization

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Background of IEC International Electrotechnical Commission is one of international organizations that produce International Standards in electrical field. The IEC came into being on 26-27 June 1906 in London, UK, and ever since has been giving the very best global standards to the world's electrotechnical industries. On 15 September 1904, delegates to the International Electrical Congress, being held in St. Louis, USA, adopted a report that included the following words: "…steps should be taken to secure the co-operation of the technical societies of the world, by the appointment of a representative Commission to consider the question of the standardization of the nomenclature and ratings of electrical apparatus and machinery." As a result, the IEC was officially founded in June 1906, in London, England, where its Central Office was set up. By 1914 the IEC had formed four technical committees to deal with Nomenclature, Symbols, Rating of Electrical Machinery, and Prime Movers. The Commission had also issued a first list of terms and definitions covering electrical machinery and apparatus, a list of international letter symbols for quantities and signs for names of units, an international standard for resistance for copper, a list of definitions in connection with hydraulic turbines, and a number of definitions and recommendations relating to rotating machines and transformers In 1930 the IEC established the following electrical units:

• • • • • • •

Hertz, for the unit of frequency Oersted for the unit of magnetic field strength Gauss for the unit of magnetic flux density Maxwell of the unit of magnetic flux Gilbert for the unit of magnetomotive force Var for designating the unit of reactive power Weber for the practical unit of magnetic flux

It was decided to extend the existing series of practical units into a comprehensive system of physical units, which became the "Giorgi system", named after Giovanni Giorgi (1871-1950) - an Italian scientist and engineer. This system has been elaborated further and is now commonly known as the "Système international", or SI for short. Between the First and the Second World Wars, a number of new international organizations came into being and the IEC recognized the need for co-operation to avoid overlapping efforts. In some cases, joint technical committees were formed, such as the International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR). In 1938 the IEC produced the first edition of the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEV). The unification of electrotechnical terminology was one of the principal tasks allocated to the IEC by the St. Louis congress. In the early days, the Nomenclature Committee was engaged in pioneer work, as no comparable international technical vocabulary had yet been published and few national electrotechnical vocabularies existed. With its 2000 terms in French, English German, Italian, Spanish and Esperanto, and its definitions in French and English, the IEV could rightly be considered as an outstanding achievement. It aroused wide interest among international technical organizations outside the electrotechnical field. In September 1939 the IEC's activity came to a standstill because of the Second World War and did not resume for another six years.

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In 1948 the IEC Central Office moved from London to Geneva, Switzerland. Subsequently, the IEC expanded its efforts in the light current field, which had constituted only a small part of the activity of the Commission before 1939. Standards covering measurements, safety requirements and the testing and specification of components for radio receivers and televisions began to appear. At the same time, work on electroacoustics started, while CISPR developed standards on permissible limits for various frequency ranges used for radio broadcasting and measurement methods for interference. From 1948 to 1980 the number of technical committees grew from 34 to 80 and began to include such new technologies as capacitors and resistors, semiconductor devices, electrical equipment in medical practice and maritime navigation and radio communication systems and equipment. In 1974 the IEC created Technical Committee 76, to address standards relating to lasers, with a particular focus on safety. This committee developed the four-class system for lasers that is the global reference. This system covers lasers used in business, entertainment, education, medicine, research and industry. The last two decades of the 20th century saw the IEC continue to address new technologies as they emerged, creating new technical committees to prepare standards for lightning protection, fibre optics, ultrasonic, wind turbine systems, and design automation. In 1995 the IEC created the Lord Kelvin Award. A maximum of three recipients are chosen each year to pay tribute to their outstanding contributions to global electrotechnical standardization over a number of years. Keeping pace with the rapid technological developments at the dawn of the 21st century, the IEC has most recently created new technical committees for fuel cell technologies, for methods to assess electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields associated with human exposure, and for avionics. In 2005, the Commission published the most recent edition of the IEC Multilingual Dictionary, which now contains 19 400 electrotechnical definitions in French and English and equivalent terms in 13 languages. Consolidated indexes are also available in in English and French as well as in German and Spanish.

In the beginning... Created in 1906, the year 2006 marks the IEC's 100th anniversary. In this special section of the website you will find items relating to the IEC's centennial year. More will be added from time to time as they become available

The founding of the IEC Much was going on in the world during the period from 1904 to 1906. Einstein published his paper on the Special Theory of Relativity, US engineers had just begun work on the Panama Canal and the picture postcard, the ice cream cone and the jukebox were invented. On both sides of the Atlantic, factories and townships were clamouring for more electricity to replace outmoded gas and oil lighting systems. H.G. Wells, in the North American Review (1901), predicted the electrical century ahead when houses and factories would be heated, ventilated and operated by electricity. In the world of electrical engineering much was happening, too. John Ambrose Fleming, Britain’s first ever professor of electrical engineering, invented the thermionic valve while in the US, Lee De Forest invented the triode. This was the period that saw

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the beginnings of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The road to the organization’s existence really began in St. Louis. The Missouri city was a busy place in 1904. Not only was it host to the Olympics and the Universal Exposition held to celebrate the centenary of the Louisiana Purchase, electrical engineers from around the world came to the city for the International Electrical Congress, the fifth in the international series. At the Congress, a Chamber of Delegates, made up of engineers from 15 countries, including the Argentine Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland and the United States, carried a resolution to the effect that: Steps should be taken to secure the co-operation of the technical societies of the world by the appointment of a representative commission to consider the question of the standardization of the Nomenclature and Ratings of Electrical Apparatus and Machinery. The delegates were then charged to return to their respective technical societies to take action on this resolution and “communicate the results of such action to Colonel R E B Crompton, Chelmsford, England and to the President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) to accompany the IEE President, J K Gray, to America to represent British electrical engineering, was a key figure in the industry.

-The mans behind IEC-

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History On 15 September 1904, delegates to the International Electrical Congress, being held in St. Louis, USA, adopted a report that included the following words: "…steps should be taken to secure the co-operation of the technical societies of the world, by the appointment of a representative Commission to consider the question of the standardization of the nomenclature and ratings of electrical apparatus and machinery." As a result, the IEC was officially founded in June 1906, in London, England, where its Central Office was set up. By 1914 the IEC had formed four technical committees to deal with Nomenclature, Symbols, Rating of Electrical Machinery, and Prime Movers. The Commission had also issued a first list of terms and definitions covering electrical machinery and apparatus, a list of international letter symbols for quantities and signs for names of units, an international standard for resistance for copper, a list of definitions in connection with hydraulic turbines, and a number of definitions and recommendations relating to rotating machines and transformers. The First World War interrupted IEC work, which resumed in 1919 and by 1923 the number of technical committees had increased to 10. IEC Council decided to create the Committee of Action "to assist in giving effect to the decisions of the Council, to second the efforts of the Central Office and to co-ordinate the work of the National Committees and of the Advisory Committees." In 1930 the IEC established the following electrical units:       

Hertz, for the unit of frequency Oersted for the unit of magnetic field strength Gauss for the unit of magnetic flux density Maxwell of the unit of magnetic flux Gilbert for the unit of magnetomotive force Var for designating the unit of reactive power Weber for the practical unit of magnetic flux

It was decided to extend the existing series of practical units into a comprehensive system of physical units, which became the "Giorgi system", named after Giovanni Giorgi (1871-1950) - an Italian scientist and engineer. This system has been elaborated further and is now commonly known as the "Système international", or SI for short. Between the First and the Second World Wars, a number of new international organizations came into being and the IEC recognized the need for co-operation to avoid overlapping efforts. In some cases, joint technical committees were formed, such as the International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR). In 1938 the IEC produced the first edition of the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEV). The unification of electrotechnical terminology was one of the principal tasks allocated to the IEC by the St. Louis congress. In the early days, the Nomenclature Committee was engaged in pioneer work, as no comparable international technical vocabulary had yet been published and few national electrotechnical vocabularies existed. With its 2000 terms in French, English German, Italian, Spanish and Esperanto, and its definitions in French and English, the IEV could

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rightly be considered as an outstanding achievement. It aroused wide interest among international technical organizations outside the electrotechnical field. In September 1939 the IEC's activity came to a standstill because of the Second World War and did not resume for another six years. In 1948 the IEC Central Office moved from London to Geneva, Switzerland. Subsequently, the IEC expanded its efforts in the light current field, which had constituted only a small part of the activity of the Commission before 1939. Standards covering measurements, safety requirements and the testing and specification of components for radio receivers and televisions began to appear. At the same time, work on electroacoustics started, while CISPR developed standards on permissible limits for various frequency ranges used for radio broadcasting and measurement methods for interference. From 1948 to 1980 the number of technical committees grew from 34 to 80 and began to include such new technologies as capacitors and resistors, semiconductor devices, electrical equipment in medical practice and maritime navigation and radiocommunication systems and equipment. In 1974 the IEC created Technical Committee 76, to address standards relating to lasers, with a particular focus on safety. This committee developed the four-class system for lasers that is the global reference. This system covers lasers used in business, entertainment, education, medicine, research and industry. The last two decades of the 20th century saw the IEC continue to address new technologies as they emerged, creating new technical committees to prepare standards for lightning protection, fibre optics, ultrasonics, wind turbine systems, and design automation. In 1995 the IEC created the Lord Kelvin Award. A maximum of three recipients are chosen each year to pay tribute to their outstanding contributions to global electrotechnical standardization over a number of years. Keeping pace with the rapid technological developments at the dawn of the 21st century, the IEC has most recently created new technical committees for fuel cell technologies, for methods to assess electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields associated with human exposure, and for avionics. In 2005, the Commission published the most recent edition of the IEC Multilingual Dictionary, which now contains 19 400 electrotechnical definitions in French and English and equivalent terms in 13 languages. Consolidated indexes are also available in in English and French as well as in German and Spanish. Functional safety and IEC 61508 The document Functional safety and IEC 61508 provides an introduction to functional safety and gives an overview of IEC 61508. You will find it useful if you are: 

wondering whether IEC 61508 applies to you,

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involved in the development of electronic or programmable systems which may have safety implications, or drafting any other standard where functional safety is a relevant factor.

IEC 61508, Functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-related systems IEC 61508 covers all safety-related systems that are electrotechnical in nature (i.e. electromechanical systems, solid-state electronic systems and computer-based systems). The standard consists of the following parts: Part 0: Functional safety and IEC 61508 Part 1: General requirements Part 2: Requirements for E/E/PE safety-related systems Part 3: Software requirements Part 4: Definitions and abbreviations Part 5: Examples of methods for the determination of safety integrity levels Part 6: Guidelines on the application of IEC 61508-2 and IEC 61508-3 Part 7: Overview of techniques and measures Previews of each part, containing the contents, foreword, introduction, scope and normative references are available for free download. The standard is generic and can be used directly by industry (as a 'standalone' standard) and also by international standards organisations as a basis for the development of application sector or subsystem standards (e.g. for the machinery, process or nuclear sector or for power drive systems). The standard will therefore influence the development of electrical, electronic and programmable electronic (E/E/PE) safety-related systems across all sectors.

Mission The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. These serve as a basis for national standardization and as references when drafting international tenders and contracts. Through its members, the IEC promotes international cooperation on all questions of electrotechnical standardization and related matters, such as the assessment of conformity to standards, in the fields of electricity, electronics and related technologies. The IEC charter embraces all electrotechnologies including electronics, magnetics and electromagnetics, electroacoustics, multimedia, telecommunication, and energy production and distribution, as well as associated general disciplines such as terminology and symbols, electromagnetic compatibility, measurement and performance, dependability, design and development, safety and the environment.

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Objectives The Commission's objectives are to:

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meet the requirements of the global market efficiently ensure primacy and maximum world-wide use of its standards and conformity assessment schemes assess and improve the quality of products and services covered by its standards establish the conditions for the interoperability of complex systems increase the efficiency of industrial processes contribute to the improvement of human health and safety contribute to the protection of the environment.

Standards IEC's international standards facilitate world trade by removing technical barriers to trade, leading to new markets and economic growth. Put simply, a component or system manufactured to IEC standards and manufactured in country A can be sold and used in countries B through to Z. IEC's standards are vital since they also represent the core of the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), whose 100-plus central government members explicitly recognize that international standards play a critical role in improving industrial efficiency and developing world trade. The number of standardization bodies which have accepted the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards presented in Annex 3 to the WTO's TBT Agreement underlines the global importance and reach of this accord. IEC standards provide industry and users with the framework for economies of design, greater product and service quality, more inter-operability, and better production and delivery efficiency. At the same time, IEC's standards also encourage an improved quality of life by contributing to safety, human health and the protection of the environment.

Who produces the standards? Each National Committee of the IEC handles the participation of experts from its country. If you would like to participate in the work of an IEC technical committee, please contact your National Committee. If you are in a country where the IEC does not have a National Committee, please contact IEC Central Office. Some 179 technical committees (TCs) and subcommittees (SCs), and about 700 project teams / maintenance teams carry out the standards work of the IEC. These working groups are composed of people from all around the world who are expert in electrotechnology. The great majority of them come from industry, while others from commerce, government, test laboratories, research laboratories, academia and consumer groups also contribute to the work. The technical committees prepare technical documents on specific subjects within their respective scopes, which are then submitted to the full member National Committees (IEC's members) for voting with a view to their approval as international standards. In all, some 10 000 experts worldwide participate in the technical work of the IEC. Distribution of documents for standards production is 100% electronic, thus improving efficiency and reducing costs.

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All information on IEC publications can be found on the IEC Web site. IEC publications can be identified by their IEC number, through the International Classification for Standards (ICS) system, or by the respective TC/SC responsible for that publication. All IEC publications are subject to a maintenance cycle appropriate to the technology in the publication. In the IEC Catalogue of publications the next date for evaluation is given in the field MRD. When the publication is evaluated a decision is taken as to whether the publication will be:

   

confirmed for a further period the subject of a complete revision the subject of an amendment withdrawn, as the publication is obsolete and of no further value

Preparation stages for standards The preparation of a new IEC standard takes place in the following principal stages (for further details, see the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1). The revision of an existing standard starts at the committee draft stage. Preliminary stage This comprises projects envisaged for the future but not yet ripe for immediate development, or preliminary work, such as better definition of a project for new work, data collection or round-robin tests necessary to develop standards, which is not part of the standardization process. At this stage, a Publicly Available Specification (IEC-PAS) can be prepared and submitted to an approval process that takes two months. Proposal stage A proposal for new work generally originates from industry via a National Committee. It is communicated to the members of the appropriate TC or SC accompanied by a form. A simple majority vote of members on the interest of studying the proposal takes place within three months. If the result is positive and a minimum of four members or 25 % of the P-members, whichever is greater, undertake to participate actively in the work and nominate experts, it is included in the work programme together with a project plan including target dates. Preparatory stage During this phase a Working Draft (WD) is prepared, generally by a project leader within a project team. Committee stage At this point the document is submitted to the National Committees as a committee draft (CD) for comment.

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Enquiry stage Before passing to the approval stage, the bilingual Committee Draft for Vote (CDV) is submitted to all National Committees for a five-month voting period. It is the last stage at which technical comments can be taken into consideration. The CDV is considered as approved if:

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a majority of two thirds of the votes cast by P-members is in favour, and if* the number of negative votes cast by all National Committees does not exceed one quarter of all the votes cast.

* When it is planned that the document will become a Technical Specification (and not an International Standard), only the first criterion concerning two thirds of the votes needs to be fulfilled and the revised version is then sent to Central Office to be published. A revised version is then sent by the secretary to the Central Office within four months for Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) processing. Approval stage The FDIS is then circulated to the National Committees for a two-month voting period. Each National Committee's vote must be explicit: positive, negative or abstention. An FDIS is approved if:

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a majority of two thirds of the votes cast by P-members is in favour, and if the number of negative votes cast by all National Committees does not exceed one quarter of all the votes cast.

If the document is approved, it is published. If the document is not approved, it is referred back to the TC or SC to be reconsidered. Publication stage This is entirely the responsibility of the Central Office and leads to publication of the international standard, normally within two months of approval of the FDIS.

Members An IEC member is called a National Committee and each NC represents its nation's electrotechnical interests in IEC management and standardization work. This includes:

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manufacturers, providers, distributors and vendors consumers and users all levels of governmental agencies professional societies and trade associations standards developers

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National committees are constituted in different ways. Some are public sector only, some are a combination of public and private sector, and some are private sector only. In this respect, the IEC does not specify how an NC should be formed. It is up to the interested parties in each country to decide how they will constitute their NC. Kinds of members There are two forms of active participation in the IEC's work. Full Membership allows countries to participate fully in international standardization activities. Full Members are National Committees each having equal voting rights. Associate Membership allows for limited participation of countries with limited resources. Associate members may participate in all technical meetings and in the Council and SMB meetings held within the framework of the annual General Meeting. They have access rights and can comment on all IEC technical documents (from new work to Final Draft International Standards). In addition, Associate Members may request the IEC General Secretary to become Participating members (P-members) on a maximum of four technical committees and/or subcommittees with the right to vote on technical work emanating from their committees of choice.

Other kind of participation There is also another kind of participation, spelled out in the Affiliate Country Programme, which is aimed at all newly-industrializing countries around the world. It should be noted that Affiliates are neither members nor associate members of the IEC. The Affiliate Country Programme is not a special form of membership.

Responsibilities of members On becoming a member of the IEC, each NC agrees to open access and balanced representation from all private and public electrotechnical interests in its country. The whole organization of the IEC is designed to ensure that the NCs play a leading part in all decision-making instances of the Commission. This enables the widest degree of consensus on standardization work to be reached at an international level. It is up to the National Committees to align their policies accordingly at the national level.

Benefits of membership Those involved in IEC standardization work come from all areas of the market and each chooses to participate for various reasons. While it would be impossible to be precise about the motivation each participant has, there are categories of advantages that broadly cover most participants. In general terms, the IEC offers:

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a forum in which formal communication networks that cross international borders may be easily developed a place where participants can network within a vibrant community of customers, manufacturers, technical experts and government representatives a table where small companies and small countries can sit together as equal partners with big companies and big countries

For the private sector, the IEC offers a forum in which to:

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build acceptance in global markets influence the content of standards develop anticipatory intelligence access the latest technology use and develop customer networks save time and money improve safety and quality of products and services

For the public sector, international standards are a source for legislation or regulation and for issuing tenders, as well as providing detailed technical interpretation of the law. Additionally, for those who are signatory to it, participating in IEC standards work contributes to fulfilling responsibilities under the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.

International partners ISO, ITU and other organizations The IEC works closely with its international standardization partners, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), other regional standardization organizations and international organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Office (ILO) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML), the Union of the Electricity Industry (EURELECTRIC), the International Federation of Standards Users (IFAN), and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). An initial agreement was signed with ISO in 1976 and ten years later the two bodies established the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 (ISO/IEC JTC 1) to cover the vast and expanding field of information technology. In the culmination of a process started in the early 90s when the importance of "electronic data interchange" (EDI) was becoming clear, IEC, ISO, ITU and UNECE in 2000 signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Electronic Business (E-business). The purpose is to coordinate standards work in the four organizations, as well as the needs of a number of associated user groups, so as to avoid divergent approaches and duplication in standards. A Management Group for the MoU, comprising technical groups involved in writing and in using e-business standards, meets twice a year, and has already contributed a lot to the harmonious development of e-business standards. Governmental agencies One of the IEC's principal partners is the World Trade Organization (WTO), whose 100-plus central government members explicitly recognize, through their Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), that international standards play a critical role in improving industrial efficiency and developing world trade. These relations at government level are of particular importance in heavily regulated areas like safety, health and the environment. The number of standardization bodies which have accepted the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards presented in Annex 3 to the WTO's Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade underlines the global importance and reach of this accord.

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The IEC encourages industrializing nations to share in the benefits of joining in its work and liaises closely with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Regional partners At the regional level, the IEC works to achieve harmonization of standards among regional standardization organizations, such as CANENA, CENELEC, COPANT, EASC, ETSI and PASC. A joint working agreement exists with the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC), comprising some 20 IEC National Committees. In addition, the IEC has agreements with COPANT (IEC-COPANT agreement), EASC (IEC-EASC agreement), ETSI (IEC/ETSI agreement), and Mercosur.(IEC/Mercosur agreement) based on the exchange of information. Co-operation between the IEC and CANENA The co-operation agreement between the IEC and CANENA (Council for Harmonization of Electrotechnical Standards of the Nations of the Americas) signed in September 2000 relates to:

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promote the use of IEC standards with CANENA members and enhance technical cooperation in standards development

This agreement is expected to be instrumental in ensuring a rational use of available resources in standardization activities and transparency of the standards process, thus facilitating world trade. It will also accelerate the standardization process and promote the development and implementation of IEC standards in response to market demand. Co-operation between the IEC and CENELEC The co-operation agreement between the IEC and CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) ratified in September 1996, and commonly known as the Dresden Agreement, relates to:

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common planning of new work parallel IEC/CENELEC voting

The object of this agreement is to avoid duplication of efforts, speed up the preparation of standards and to ensure the best use of the resources available and particularly of experts' time. If the results of parallel voting are positive in both the IEC and CENELEC, the IEC will publish the international standard, while the CENELEC Technical Board will ratify the European standard. This is a news from a paper that attributes and appreciates the usage of International Engineering Consortium (IEC) in the electronic’s world by investigate and name-list the products that have been full-fill the requirement of the consortium.

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“SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The International Engineering Consortium (IEC) recognized nine products for "contributions to progress in the design engineering industry" at DesignCon 2006 here. Recipients of DesignVision Awards included: In the ASIC and IC Design Tools category, Cadence Design Systems Inc.'s X Architecture Design Solution. In the Design Verification Tools category, Synopsys Inc.'s PioneerNTB SystemVerilog testbench automation tool. In the Interconnect Technologies and Components category, Crossbow from Amphenol TCS. In the Printed Circuit Board Design Tools category, CircuitSpace from DesignAdvance Systems. In the Semiconductors and ICs category, Actel's Fusion programmable system chip. In the Semiconductors and ICs Intellectual Property category, 1TSRAM Classic memory macros family from MoSys. In the Structured/Platform ASIC, FPGA, and PLD Design Tools category, Altera Corp.'s HardCopy II structured ASIC design flow. In the System-Level Design Tools category, WEBENCH Active Filter Designer from National Semiconductor. In the Test and Measurement Equipment category, Bertscope CR Clock Recovery from Synthesys Research. "The DesignVision Awards recognize innovative products and services that support the work of electronic design engineers, the core audience at DesignCon," said Barry Sullivan, DesignCon 2006 program director, in a statement. "The IEC is pleased to provide this recognition to companies whose products exemplify our standard of service to the industry."”

International Standardization International Standards, and their use in technical regulations on products, production methods and services play an important role in sustainable development and trade facilitation through the promotion of safety, quality and technical compatibility. The benefits that are derived are significant. Standardization contributes to the basic infrastructure that underpins society including health and environment while promoting sustainability and good regulatory practice.

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The international organizations that produce International Standards are the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). IEC covers electrotechnology and related conformity assessment, ITU covers telecommunications and ISO covers nearly all other technical fields, a number of service sectors, management systems and conformity assessment. International Standards, or national or regional adoptions of International Standards, assist in the operation of domestic markets, and also increase competitiveness and provide an excellent source of technology transfer. They play an integral role in the protection of consumers and the environment. With the increasing globalization of markets, International Standards (as opposed to regional or national standards) have become critical to the trading process, ensuring a level playing field for exports, and ensuring imports meet internationally recognized levels of performance and safety. Standards can be broadly sub-divided into three categories, namely product, process and management system standards. The first refers to characteristics related to quality and safety for example. Process standards refer to the conditions under which products and services are to be produced, packaged or refined. Management system standards assist organizations to manage their operations. They are often used to help create a framework that then allows the organization to consistently achieve the requirements that are set out in product and process standards.

Conformity Assessment Joint ISO/IEC International Standards and guides for conformity assessment encourage best practice and consistency when products, services, systems, processes and materials need to be evaluated against standards, regulations or other specifications. ISO/IEC 17000 describes conformity assessment as the 'demonstration that specific requirements relating to a product, process, system, person or body are fulfilled.' Conformity assessment procedures, such as testing, inspection and certification, offer assurance that products fulfill the requirements specified in regulations and standards.

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