The US and the EU will be introducing new safety standards on December 20, 2020 based on IEC 62368-1 that will supersede worldwide existing standards. The new standards will replace the 60950-1 and 60065 standards.

“This positive development has come about as the EU has extended the date for “cessation of presumption of conformity” for existing products already tested in accordance with the old standards. This cessation was originally scheduled for June 20, 2019, although the date of withdrawal for EN 60950-1 and EN 60065 had been set for December 20, 2020. By consolidating these two events on the 2020 date, the EU can avoid allowing any unintended exceptions.

The situation is unambiguous now: on December 20, 2020, the old standards will be withdrawn, and any product covered by the scope of EN 62368-1 (the IEC standard as written into law by EU legislators) must be tested in accordance with that standard. Following the EU’s announcement, the UL organization in the US confirmed it would move its own Effective Date for UL 62368-1 (the US version of IEC 62368-1) to supersede UL 60950-1 and UL 60065 (previously scheduled for June 20, 2019) to December 20, 2020,” EE World Online reported.

“The changeover to 62368-1 has been made necessary by the increasingly blurred distinction between ICT equipment covered by 60950-1, and AV equipment covered by 60065.The changeover to 62368-1 has been made necessary by the increasingly blurred distinction between ICT equipment covered by 60950-1, and AV equipment covered by 60065,” CUI explained.

As CUI Inc explains this changeover was originally planned for June 2019 but was delayed, but the December 20 date is now confirmed which gives manufacturers time to put their new testing procedures and documentation in place. 

The intent of these regulations is to create a future-proof document that helps create safer products for end users.

As CUI notes “We have officially entered the era of Hazard-Based Safety Engineering (HBSE). This principle has become formalized over the last 20 years or so, and the IEC has been committed to it since at least 2002, when it handed over the newly published ECMA-287 Safety of Electronic Equipment standard to TC108's Hazard-Based Standard Development Team (HBSDT).”