lectronics technology is changing rapidly and safety standards are being updated to stay relevant. The new standards are technology independent, hazard-based and performance-oriented. According to UL, a nationally recognized testing laboratory, that's a less prescriptive approach, which will help by letting "manufacturers make their own decisions and follow their own pace on the road toward hazard-based safety standards."

The First Thing You Need to Know

EN 62368 is the new safety standard for information technology equipment and audio/video equipment. It replaces EN60950, EN 60905 and EN 60065 as well as IEC 60950-1.

First published in Europe during 2Q-2014, the Date of Withdrawal (DoW) of the standards to be superseded (EN 60065 and EN 60950-1) was assigned to be June 20, 2019. Although the Official Journal of the European Union has yet to be updated to include EN62368 as mandatory and formally associated with the low voltage directive (LVD) – this is expected to be updated soon. Meanwhile, UL has in fact assigned June 20, 2019 as the date of new equipment certification and UL/CSA 62368 will be the law of the land in North America at that time.

Why Did UL Revise the Standard?

Thirty years ago, it was easy to tell the difference between an audio visual, consumer electronics and a computer or test instrument, and many things such as digital signage did not even exist. Today, it's hard to tell where a computer ends and AV or test instruments begin. Thus, 62368 is designed to be applicable to a wider variety of products and technologies which will  also minimizes national/regional certification differences. The new standard is not just a simple merger of EN 60065 and EN 60950-1. It is being replaced because technology is changing, and the EN 62368-1 standard is technology independent.

There's more - the increased flexibility of EN62368 will allow design engineers to identify and eliminate safety hazards in the early product development phase and also provide more performance options for demonstrating compliance.

Here's More to Keep You in the Know

The PSMA Safety & Compliance Committee Technical Forum on the PSMA web site provides free resources to help you keep up with the changes in regulatory safety and compliance activities, including the Safety & Compliance Database. The upcoming 2019 PSMA Power Technology Roadmap will include a section on regulatory issues, together with updates on 62368 presented by TUV, another nationally recognized testing laboratory.

For further education on this topic, you can:

• View the archived UL presentation from Thomas Burke from UL. Thomas Burke is a subject matter expert on 62368 on the PSMA Safety & Compliance Forum.
• View standards update information from UL.
• An overview brochure from UL on the standard is also available.
• Review, join and participate in the 62368 LinkedIn group which has over 2000 members currently participating. Feel free to ask questions and join in the discussions.

Version 2.0 of 62368 is already in review for 2018 and this space should be watched closely to make sure compliance is understood.

Provided by Kevin Parmenter PSMA Safety & Compliance Committee Co-Chair Head of Low Power Applications, Excelsys, an Advanced Energy company

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