A recent amendment to the IEC/EN 60335-1 Standard, which covers household and similar appliances, added EMC requirements to this safety standard. These requirements apply to electrical appliances which incorporate protective electronic circuits, those which have a switch with an off position obtained by electronic disconnection and those with a switch that can electronically be placed in a stand-by mode. The new requirement significantly increases the IEC 61000-4-x severity levels mandated in the EMC standard EN 55014-2. Some of these requirements became mandatory on October 1, 2006, while the rest are currently scheduled to become mandatory on October 1, 2007.

Additional information:

The new requirement significantly increases the IEC 61000-4-x severity levels mandated in the EMC Standard EN 55014-2. As an example, products not incorporating the above, i.e. protective\standby electronic switches, are required to meet EN 61000-4-5 Surge levels of:

+ 1kV Differential Mode (line-to-line)
+ 2kV Common Mode (line-to-ground)

+ 2kV Differential Mode (line-to-line)
+ 4kV Common Mode (line-to-ground)

In addition to the surge test example above, there are many other immunity tests affected too, e.g. radiated susceptibility and ESD.

Manufacturers of household and similar appliances should have their products evaluated, and potentially tested, immediately so they are not caught unprepared for these new EMC mandates contained in IEC/EN 60335-1 becoming mandatory in October 1, 2007. There is no grandfather provision. For more information call Steve at 847-537-6400.