The History of Consumer Electronics Safety Regulations

Understanding the History of IEC 62368-1

IEC 62368-1 is an international safety standard for audio/video, information technology (IT), and communication equipment.

It replaced two legacy standards with a hazard-based safety engineering (HBSE) approach, emphasizing the identification and control of energy sources to ensure user protection. This model provides a flexible, forward-looking framework for today’s converged technologies.

After decades of evolving consumer electronics safety regulations, IEC 60950-1 was officially withdrawn as a recognized safety standard for information technology equipment on December 20, 2020, marking a significant transition in electronics safety regulation.

This wasn't just a bureaucratic update—it signaled a shift from prescriptive construction rules to proactive hazard prevention.  This transformation reveals how regulation evolves alongside technology. 

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Key Points

• IEC 62368-1 replaced two separate legacy standards (IEC 60950-1 and IEC 60065) in December 2020, creating a unified safety standard for converged electronic devices like smartphones, smart televisions (TVs), and tablets that combine computing, communication, and entertainment functions.
• The standard introduces HBSE, a revolutionary proactive approach that identifies energy sources and prescribes safeguards, replacing the old reactive "incident-based" rules with flexible performance-based requirements.
• The standard evolved through four editions from 2010-2023, with the first edition seeing limited adoption, while subsequent editions addressed shortcomings and gained widespread adoption across different regions at varying timelines.
• Early adopters like Samsung, Lenovo, and Alpha Networks gained competitive advantages by positioning IEC 62368-1 compliance as a market differentiator rather than just a regulatory burden, demonstrating how smart regulation can enable innovation.
• Regional adoption varied globally. North America transitioned early through Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), Europe fully enforced EN IEC 62368-1 in December 2020, and Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets adopted gradually through the International Electrotechnical Commission System of Conformity Assessment Schemes for Electrotechnical Equipment and Components (IECEE) Certification Bodies (CB) Scheme—collectively creating a globally harmonized safety baseline.

The Evolution from Separate Standards to Convergence

The history of safety standards for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) began with two distinct regulatory paths that eventually converged due to technological reality.

• IEC 60065, originally developed for audio/visual equipment, governed traditional consumer electronics like televisions, stereos, and video players.
• Meanwhile, IEC 60950-1 covered information technology equipment including computers, servers, and networking devices.

This separation made sense when televisions were analog devices and computers were isolated business machines. But as digital technologies matured, convergence blurred these lines, and products began combining multiple functions.

Devices like smart TVs, smartphones, and tablets simultaneously delivered computing, communication, and entertainment—creating overlap between the two standards and introducing compliance complexity.

As these multifunctional products became the norm, the electronics industry needed a unified approach that could address emerging technologies without forcing manufacturers to navigate conflicting regulatory frameworks.

This need for alignment drove the development of IEC 62368-1, a single standard designed to cover the full spectrum of modern electronic devices.

Regulatory Flashpoints That Triggered Change

The development of IEC 62368-1 emerged from a series of regulatory flashpoints that revealed fundamental gaps in older safety standards.

In the early 2000s, rapid advances in consumer electronics led to recurring safety incidents – battery failures, thermal hazards, and inconsistent compliance interpretations across regions.

These challenges exposed how prescriptive, incident-based frameworks struggled to keep pace with increasingly complex and multifunctional devices.

Recognizing the need for a system that could anticipate risks rather than react to accidents, regulators and industry stakeholders began shaping a new safety philosophy centered on hazard identification and energy management.

This shift ultimately produced IEC 62368-1, a modern standard designed to evolve with technology while ensuring consistent global protection for users and products.

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Hazard-Based Safety Engineering: A Revolutionary Approach

HBSE represents a fundamental philosophical shift in how we approach product safety regulation.

Traditional safety standards were "incident-based"—rules developed in response to accidents or failures.

As one expert explains: "An incident triggers the development of a new requirement... Virtually all of today's product safety standards are incident-based."

This reactive approach created prescriptive construction requirements that manufacturers had to follow exactly, regardless of whether alternative designs might achieve equivalent or superior safety outcomes.

In contrast, IEC 62368-1's hazard-based approach is proactive.

Bel notes that it "seeks to identify potential hazards as energy sources capable of causing pain or injury to users and identify suitable means of preventing such energy transfer".

The standard classifies energy sources—electrical, thermal, mechanical, chemical, and radiation—into safety levels that determine required safeguards. This performance-based methodology allows design flexibility while maintaining safety objectives.

Manufacturers report that IEC 62368-1 "provides greater design flexibility than the legacy 60065 or 60950-1 standards, allowing them additional design alternatives to make their products more competitive".

IEC 62368-1 Key Changes Through the Editions

The evolution of IEC 62368-1 across four editions shows how the standard matured from early challenges to widespread global acceptance.

First Edition (2010): The initial publication had significant shortcomings that prevented European adoption. Many power supply companies delayed transitioning from IEC 60950-1 until the new IEC 62368-1 standard was fully established.

Second Edition (2014): This version addressed the first edition's problems and enabled widespread industry adoption. UL issued the world's first IEC 62368-1 Second Edition CB certificates, marking a significant milestone in consumer electronics safety regulations., demonstrating early adoption leadership.

Third Edition (2018): Focused on clarifications and interpretation issues, this edition provided clearer requirements for manufacturers and testing laboratories while maintaining backward compatibility.

Fourth Edition (2023): The current IEC 62368-1 safety standard, which is a comprehensive and detailed document, eliminated legacy component documentation options and expanded requirements for emerging technologies like data center liquid cooling systems.

Each edition built upon previous versions while addressing industry feedback and technological developments, showing how modern standards can evolve systematically rather than through reactive crisis management.

Today, IEC 62368-1 defines a unified global framework for safety across devices ranging from smartphones and gaming consoles to industrial communication systems, ensuring consistency across converged technologies.

Regional Adoption Histories (EU, US, APAC)

The global rollout of IEC 62368-1 followed distinct regional timelines shaped by local regulatory frameworks and industry readiness.

In Europe, adoption progressed cautiously. The first edition’s shortcomings led to delayed harmonization under the Low Voltage Directive (LVD). Full enforcement came only in December 2020, when IEC 60950-1 and IEC 60065 were officially withdrawn.

Since then, EN IEC 62368-1 has served as the sole safety standard for audio/video and IT equipment sold within the European Union.

In the United States and Canada, regulators and certification bodies such as UL and CSA moved faster.  The second edition (2014) was accepted early, allowing manufacturers to transition voluntarily before the 2020 global deadline. UL 62368-1 and CSA C22.2 No. 62368-1 are now aligned with the international version, ensuring cross-border compatibility across North America.

Across APAC, adoption was more staggered. Markets like Japan, South Korea, and China participated through the IECEE CB Scheme early on, while others, including India and Southeast Asia, implemented localized versions more gradually.

Despite timing differences, most major APAC economies now recognize IEC 62368-1 for product certification, contributing to greater global harmonization.

These regional timelines illustrate how the standard evolved through cooperation between regulators, testing laboratories, and manufacturers worldwide – turning a complex transition into a foundation for unified global safety practice.

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Conclusion

The history of IEC 62368-1 demonstrates how smart regulation evolves alongside innovation rather than constraining it. Understanding this evolution helps hardware companies approach compliance strategically—seeing standards not as bureaucratic hurdles but as frameworks that enable market trust and competitive differentiation in an increasingly connected world.

To sustain this progress, proactive compliance planning is essential. Manufacturers that integrate hazard analysis early, select testing partners strategically, and align certification timelines with market requirements transform compliance from an obligation into a catalyst for innovation and long-term market advantage.

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