IEC 62368-1

IEC 62368-1 - Safety for Audio/Video and IT Equipment

Audio/video, information and communication technology equipment - Part 1: Safety requirements

Maintained byGiorgi Gaprindashvili PublishedFebruary 5, 2026 UpdatedJuly 19, 2026

Energy-source classes at a glance

IEC 62368-1 classifies each energy source by what it can do to a person: ES1 is not felt, ES2 may be felt but does not injure, ES3 can injure. Safeguards are required as the class rises.

Key facts

Full title: Audio/video, information and communication technology equipment - Part 1: Safety requirements
Published by: IEC (TC 108)
Current edition: 4th edition, IEC 62368-1:2023, is now the governing edition; the 3rd edition (IEC 62368-1:2018 / EN IEC 62368-1:2020) is the legacy/transition edition
Replaces: IEC 60950-1 (IT) and IEC 60065 (AV), withdrawn 20 December 2020
Approach: Hazard-Based Safety Engineering (HBSE)
Applies to: AV, IT and communication technology equipment rated up to 600 V
Transition: 4th edition adopted regionally through 2025-2027; in North America via UL/CSA 62368-1 (2025), CSA enforcement 30 April 2026

What changed: from prescriptive rules to hazard-based safety

The two standards it replaced told designers what to build - specific isolation voltages, defined SELV limits, fixed constructions. IEC 62368-1 instead asks designers to identify each energy source in the product, classify how much harm it could transfer to a person or start a fire, and then apply safeguards matched to that class. This is hazard-based safety engineering, and it is meant to keep up with new constructions that the old prescriptive standards never anticipated.

Because the model is built around energy rather than product type, the same standard now covers a smart TV, a server, a VoIP phone and a phone charger - equipment that used to split between IEC 60950-1 and IEC 60065.

Energy-source classes

Electrical energy is sorted into three classes by the voltage and current a person could be exposed to. The class sets how much protection is required: ES1 needs none, ES2 needs a basic safeguard, ES3 needs a reinforced (or double) safeguard. The standard applies the same 1/2/3 logic to other hazards - PS1-PS3 for power sources that can start a fire, TS1-TS3 for surfaces that can burn, MS1-MS3 for mechanical energy.

Note that SELV, the safe-to-touch class from IEC 60950-1, is no longer defined; ES1 is treated as its equivalent because both are intended to be safe for an ordinary person to touch.

How it connects to insulation distances

Once a barrier is identified as basic or reinforced between two energy classes, the required creepage and clearance still come from the insulation-coordination tables - IEC 62368-1 carries its own Table 10 (clearance) and Table 17 (creepage), which build on IEC 60664-1. The creepage and clearance calculator on this site implements the general-purpose IEC 60664-1 route that those product tables derive from.

Electrical energy-source classes (below 1 kHz)

Limits vary with frequency and with normal, abnormal or single-fault conditions; full limits are in clause 5 of the standard.
Class	Voltage limit	Safeguard required	Example
ES1	≤ 30 V rms / 42.4 V pk / 60 V dc	None - safe to touch	USB bus, low-voltage logic
ES2	≤ 50 V rms / 70.7 V pk / 120 V dc	Basic safeguard	48 V PoE, some DC rails
ES3	Above ES2 limits	Reinforced / double safeguard	Mains primary, 100 W USB-C PD

Tools that use this standard

Creepage & clearance calculator IP / NEMA rating decoder UL 94 rating selector

Related standards

Standard	Relationship	What it means
IEC 60950-1 and IEC 60065	Supersedes	The legacy IT-equipment and AV-equipment safety standards it merged and replaced; both withdrawn on 20 December 2020.
UL/CSA 62368-1	Adopted in North America as	The binational US/Canada version, technically aligned with national differences.
IEC 62368-3	Complemented by	Covers power and data delivered over the communication cabling, such as power over Ethernet.
IEC 60664-1	Relies on	Creepage and clearance inside the equipment are dimensioned with the 60664-1 insulation-coordination method.

Frequently asked questions

What did IEC 62368-1 replace?

It replaced IEC 60950-1 for information technology equipment and IEC 60065 for audio/video equipment. Those two legacy standards were withdrawn on 20 December 2020, a date harmonized between the EU and North America, with 62368-1 taking effect the same day.

What is the current edition of IEC 62368-1?

The 4th edition, IEC 62368-1:2023, is the most recent published edition, and national adoption of it is still rolling out through regional bodies. Because the edition a given market enforces differs by region and changes over time, verify the edition your target market currently requires before relying on it for design.

What does hazard-based safety engineering (HBSE) mean?

Rather than prescriptive pass/fail rules for each product type, HBSE identifies the energy sources in a product - electrical, thermal, mechanical, radiation and chemical - classifies each by its potential to cause injury, and requires safeguards matched to that class. The approach is designed to adapt to new technology without rewriting product-specific rules.

What is the difference between IEC 62368-1 and UL 62368-1?

They share the same hazard-based structure and energy-source classes. IEC 62368-1 is the international base document; UL 62368-1 is the North American version, published binationally by UL and CSA with national differences for US and Canadian requirements.

Does IEC 62368-1 cover battery safety?

It addresses hazards from equipment that contains batteries and, in its later editions, adds specific provisions for equipment with rechargeable batteries. It is a product-safety standard, not a cell-level battery standard; testing of the cells and packs themselves is covered by other standards such as the IEC 62133 series.

What changed in the 4th edition?

A widely noted change is that components or subassemblies certified only to the legacy IEC 60950-1 or IEC 60065 are no longer automatically accepted and must be evaluated to 62368-1. The edition also refines a number of definitions and requirements. Confirm specifics against the current edition, as the publisher does not release a free list of changes.

Does meeting IEC 62368-1 mean my product is certified?

No. The standard defines safety requirements and test methods; conformity is demonstrated through the applicable route for your market, for example an NRTL in North America or the relevant conformity assessment for CE marking, against the edition that market enforces. The standard is one input, not the approval itself.

Source: IEC webstore. An overview for design reference - verify against the current edition before relying on it for compliance.