TITLE: IEC TC 61, Safety of household and similar electrical appliances

SCOPE: To prepare safety requirements for electrical appliances primarily for household purposes, but also for other equipment and appliances in similar fields where there is no IEC Technical Committee in existence. 

Note 1: TC 61 does not deal with appliances which are already explicitly covered by the scope of other IEC Technical Committees. 

Note 2: The work of TC 61 in fields other than household may lead to a recommendation that the work on that project be transferred to a new Technical Committee. 

The scope as listed accurately reflects the work of IEC TC 61. The scope of IEC TC 61 is broad enough to allow the TC to address new and emerging technologies as needed. 

IEC TC 61 structure consists of:

• subcommittees addressing series specific appliance types,
• working groups charged with developing requirements addressing unique product types,
• project teams developing requirements for new part 2 standards,
• maintenance teams maintain standards and may also be assigned to specific issues, e.g. horizontal technical topics
• ad hoc groups developing specific requirements,
• a joint ad hoc group with IEC TC 59 on the mapping platform,
• a joint advisory group on horizontal security functions for OT managed by TC 65,
• a Chair’s Advisory Group serving as interpretation panel,
• a Chair’s Advisory Group on coordination, planning and steering of the committee’s work or other specific tasks of an advisory nature, and
• an Editing Group.

During each plenary (held approximately every six months) the SCs, WGs, and MTs provide reports. Additionally, when it is determined that new activity is needed to address emerging technology, a WG or PT may be formed at that time. 

TC 61 structure on the IEC website

External: The work of TC 61 continues to proceed at a rapid pace due to the growing worldwide use of international safety standards, the increased interest in certification and the increase in the number of appliances falling under the scope of IEC TC 61. The value of international trade in electrical appliances is measured in billions of US$. The regulatory environment applied to electrical appliances varies from country to country, but manufacturers usually have to contend with either a performance based regulatory environment or a pre-market intervention regulatory environment. In both cases, standards are vital for the appliance industry to manage the risks introduced by the environment, variations of the electrical supply, and application of new technologies, such as AI and DC supply. 

Internal: TC 61 aims to produce and maintain international standards relating to the safety of household and similar appliances in a manner that is timely, efficient and which keeps pace with modern technology. The standards produced will fulfil the needs of certification bodies, users, manufacturers and national authorities responsible for safety. The requirements are written so as to facilitate international trade in electrical appliances and to minimize the need for national differences. 

The customers for TC 61 standards include consumers, manufacturers of appliances, certification and testing laboratories, retailers, and national (local) regulatory and inspection authorities. These groups, except for retailers, are actively represented on the committee. At present there is no difficulty in obtaining the participation of the important groups. The standards produced by this committee have attained wide use internationally at both the regional and national levels. 

The electrical appliance industry is a mature industry and as such the coverage of the current standards produced by TC 61 and its subcommittees is sufficient for most products.  However, the standards produced require frequent amendments in order to respond to safety problems encountered in the field and to allow manufacturers to gain certification for new features on existing appliance types. New standards are developed in response to an increase in international trade in new appliance types. Usually, an existing regional or national standard is available to form the basis of the international standard. It is for these reasons and in order not to impede development that standardization concerning safety of appliances is generally a reactive process than a proactive process to keep the pace of developments in technologies a combination of reactive and proactive approaches are used. 

Many aspects relating to the safety of children when they use an appliance or come into contact with it are already covered by the 60335 series due to application of ISO/IEC GUIDE 50. However, due to the unpredictable nature of child behaviour it is inevitable that some aspects can only be introduced on a reactive basis and will be part 2 specific. 

Healthy/hygiene requirements are generally only a safety issue in relation to appliances involved in the commercial distribution, storage and use of foodstuffs, appliances used to clean up hazardous dust and appliances connected to the water mains. These aspects are covered by the existing standards. Performance issues relating to appliances in general and in particular to the commercial distribution and storage of foodstuffs and domestic storage of foodstuffs are covered by IEC standards produced by other committees such as TC 59 and ISO standards.

TC 61 is committed to supporting and advancing concepts aligning with gender responsiveness in standards development. This includes addressing gender needs in proposals developed for the standards under the TC and as priority consideration for the various groups operating under the TC to implement the programme of work for the TC. 

The use of electronic circuits (including programmable elements) to provide a safety related function and the effects of electromagnetic phenomena on such circuits will significantly impact the design and construction of future appliances. In addition, manufacturers are using the telecommunications network to enable remote control of appliances and remote servicing of appliances that incorporate programmed electronic circuits - this aspect of appliance servicing and usage is expected to grow. The development of ever more powerful and compact batteries has led to their use for powering an ever-increasing range of appliances. All these aspects have significant impact in the development of requirements for the safety of appliances. 

The following summarizes horizonal considerations. Requirements covering the impact of electric household and similar appliances on the common environment are not within the scope of TC 61. Recently a WG has been set-up within TC 61 to consider the basic series of concepts to be applied under the conditions of reuse, refurbish, etc. for IEC 60335 products to ensure that they keep the basic safety criteria relevant to Circular Economy and Material Efficiency. To a certain extent, safety requirements are written so as to take into account the need to use environmentally friendly materials or to forbid the use of some of such materials (e.g. asbestos or oils containing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)).  Other environmental aspects relating are within the scope of other committees such as SC 77A, CISPR/F, TC 106 and TC 111. 

Although efficiency of appliances in use is a great concern worldwide, this matter does not fall under the scope of TC 61 and it is covered by IEC TC 59. Care is taken to avoid overlapping or contradictory requirements in the standards concerning electric household and similar appliances which are developed by the two TCs.

Security, in particular security in transactions over the external public network and the web are of a great concern and are carefully studied within the TC 61, in particular as far as their impact on the control/management of appliances from remote locations and the possible consequences on the malfunction or safety of appliances. A Joint Advisory Group has been with TC 65 to monitor the development of new requirements in the cybersecurity field of IACS and use common terminology, risk assessment approach, system evaluation in a broader way, similar to other residential and industrial applications considering that public network technologies in use are common. TC 61 will also follow closely the work for development of a new GSP from TC 23 on HBES and BACS systems where appliances are part of the ecosystem.

Robotic technologies are getting more and more common and widely used, encompassing different sectors and types of products. Household and similar electrical appliances are impacted already now and will be more and more impacted in the future. TC 61 is carefully monitoring the situation by following with a liaison person the activities in the horizontal Committees dealing with robotics technology (e.g. IEC SyC AAL, ISO TC 299, etc.) and in other TCs within IEC and ISO working on robotic technologies. A WG has been set-up within the TC 61 to study the requirements for service robot appliances for household and similar use as determined to be appropriate for TC 61.

More and more DC Application scenarios need the support of standards, and household and similar uses are the largest DC application scenarios for the future with the advent of new technologies and electrification of the network. TC 61 has shown interest in the work being conducted by SyC LVDC and is planning to conduct evaluations in the field of DC supply as an alternative to AC supply, conduct a detailed analysis of the existing standards, find out the gaps, and further modify and improve existing standards to meet the needs of TC 61 standard stakeholders. An ad hoc group was established to evaluate the electrical mains influence, such as undervoltage and overvoltage functions, on the safe operation of the appliances and their task was expanded to also consider the need for requirements for DC-supplied appliances. This work will make a positive contribution to the control of global climate change. Another work is being conducted in parallel by advisory group in functional safety for use of USB C connection and supply of certain type of applications.

TC 61 and its subcommittees are, in terms of the IEC system approach to standardization, customer committees of the following IEC committees:

TC 8, System aspects of electrical energy supply 

TC 20, Electric cables

SC 21A, Secondary cells and batteries containing alkaline or other non-acid electrolytes

SC 23E, Circuit-breakers and similar equipment for household use 

SC 23F, Connecting devices

SC 23G, Appliance couplers

SC 23J, Switches for appliances

SC 32C, Miniature fuses

TC 33, Power capacitors

SC 34B, Lamp caps and holders 

TC 35, Primary cells and batteries

SC 37A, Low-voltage surge protective devices

TC 40,  Capacitors and resistors for electronic equipment 

SC 47E , Discrete semiconductor devices

TC 62, Electrical equipment in medical practice

TC 64 , Electrical installations and protection against electric shock 

TC 65, Industrial-process measurement, control and automation 

SC 65A, System aspects

TC 72, Automatic electrical controls

SC 77A, EMC low frequency phenomena 

TC 94, All-or-nothing electrical relays

TC 96, Transformers, reactors, power supply units and similar products for low voltage up to 1100 V

TC 108, Safety of electronic equipment within the field of audio/video, information technology and communication technology

CISPR/F, Interference relating to household appliances tools, lighting equipment and similar apparatus

The customers of TC 61 standards and the products designed and manufactured to TC 61 standards are Regulatory Authorities responsible for safety and consumers who purchase the products. Consequently to ensure that Regulatory Authorities responsible for safety have confidence in using TC 61 standards in their regulations and to ensure the safety of consumers who use the products designed and manufactured to TC 61 standards, all components used in appliances must be such that they do not compromise the ability of the appliance to meet the requirements of the appliance standard when incorporated as specified by the appliance manufacturer.

The standards produced by TC 61 are used for certification purposes in the IECEE scheme, and the certificates issues are used to obtain or cover market approval requirements internationally.