What Is IEC 62368-1?

IEC 62368-1 is the International Electrotechnical Commission’s product safety standard for audio/video, information and communication technology equipment. Its scope is broad: computers, servers, monitors, network switches and routers, printers, televisions and the external power supplies that feed them all come under it, up to a rated voltage of 600 V.

It was first published in 2010 and is now in its fourth edition, IEC 62368-1:2023. It merged and replaced two older standards: IEC 60950-1 for information technology equipment and IEC 60065 for audio and video equipment. As computers, displays and media devices converged, one standard covering both made more sense than two with overlapping and sometimes conflicting rules.

In Europe and the UK it is published as EN 62368-1 (BS EN IEC 62368-1 in the UK) and gives a presumption of conformity with the Low Voltage Directive and the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016. In the US and Canada it is published jointly as UL 62368-1 and CSA C22.2 No. 62368-1, with some national differences.

The biggest change from IEC 60950-1 is the method. The older standard was largely prescriptive: it listed construction rules to follow. IEC 62368-1 uses hazard-based safety engineering, which starts by asking what in the product could cause harm and then requires safeguards in proportion to that hazard. It describes injury with a three-block model: an energy source, a way for that energy to transfer, and a body part. A safeguard sits between the energy source and the person.

Energy sources are graded in three classes. Class 1 is not painful, class 2 can be painful but is not expected to cause injury, and class 3 can cause injury. The same scale applies to each type of energy:

IEC 62368-1 defines layers of protection. A basic safeguard is the first line, such as insulation. A supplementary safeguard steps in if the basic one fails, and a reinforced safeguard is a single safeguard strong enough to do both jobs. Safeguards can be part of the equipment, the installation, personal protective equipment or an instruction to the user.

How much protection is needed also depends on who can reach the hazard. The standard separates ordinary persons, instructed persons who have been told about a hazard, and skilled persons with the training to avoid it. A class 2 or class 3 energy source can be acceptable behind a panel that only skilled service staff open, which is why access and labelling matter in the design.

Industrial computers usually appear under one of two safety families, and older datasheets may still quote a third. The table shows how they differ.

Which one applies depends on how the product is classed. A computer sold as IT equipment is normally listed to UL 62368-1, while equipment intended as industrial control equipment may be listed to UL 61010-1 or UL 61010-2-201. Inspectors and panel builders working to UL 508A often ask which listing a computer carries, a question our guide to UL computers for industrial control panel builders explores. Medical equipment has its own standard; see our explainer on the IEC 60601-1 medical electrical safety standard.

For a buyer, compliance usually shows up in three ways: a listing mark such as UL or ETL, a CE or UKCA declaration that cites EN 62368-1, and a CB test report issued under the IECEE CB Scheme, which lets one test report support approvals in many countries. The external power adapter needs its own approval too, so check both the computer and the adapter.

Across our industrial PCs you will see both families. In the Premio BCO-500 fanless embedded PCs, for example, the Intel Core Ultra models are UL listed to UL 62368-1, while the Rockchip RK3568J model is UL listed to UL 61010-1 and UL 61010-2-201. The Premio RCO-3000-RPL rugged fanless PCs are UL listed to UL 61010-1.

We supply industrial computers with the safety listing and power adapter to suit the market and application as standard, and provide the manufacturer’s certificates and declarations with each system.