Revision of IEC 60335 ― International Standard on Household and Similar Electrical Appliances

IEC 60335 standard series deals with the safety of household electrical appliances and consists of two parts: the first part includes general safety requirements that refer to all appliances, while the second part includes the requirements for particular types of appliances. The first standards from this series were published back in 1970, and the latest, sixth edition that refers to the general requirements, was published just last month.

IEC 60335-1, Household and similar electrical appliances - Safety - Part 1: General requirements refers to the safety of household electrical appliances and similarly used appliances, such as the appliances used in shops, industry and on farms, i.e. those that may be the source of forseeable hazards in everyday use.
The latest trend, the introduction of the digital environment and the creation of so-called smart consumer products that connect to the Internet, sets new requirements, dealing with cyber security and software management. IEC 60335-1 is therefore revised and updated to include requirements for cyber security, in order to avoid unauthorized access, and reduce the effects of transmission interruptions via remote communication or remote control. Also, additional requirements relate to safety of appliances that use batteries and reduce the risk of fire.

IEC 60335-1 is also very useful to the producers in helping them to comply with the various national regulations.
Along with the published new edition of the IEC 60335-1 standard, the International Electrotechnical Commission IEC has made a commented version of the standard available to the users. It clearly identifies the differences between the previous and the new version, and it also shows comments on each of the major technical changes. This was done to provide standards users with an explanation for each of the key changes in the text of the standard.