International Electrotechnical Commission

The International Electrotechnical Commission (CEI), also known by its acronym in English IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), is an organization of standardization in the fields: electrical, electronic and related technologies.

History

The first meeting of the International Electrical Congress took place in 1881 during the International Electrical Exhibition held in Paris. At that time it was agreed to develop an international system of electrical and magnetic units of measurement.

The IEC was founded in 1906, following a 1904 resolution passed at the International Electrical Congress in St. Louis, Missouri. Its first president was Lord Kelvin and the first meeting was held on June 26, 1906. It was based in London until it moved to Geneva in 1948.

The IEC is made up of the national standardization bodies, in the indicated areas, of the member countries. In 2003, the CIS had more than 60 member countries. In 2020 there were 88 members, each one representing a country: 62 were full members and 26 associate members.

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IEC Standards

Many standards are developed in conjunction with the International Organization for Standardization, resulting in ISO/IEC standards.

In 1938, the organization published the first international dictionary (International Electrotechnical Vocabulary) with the purpose of unifying electrical terminology, an effort that has been maintained over time. The standardization agencies of each country are in charge, when appropriate, of the translation into other languages, being the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary (VEI) of Spain developed by the UNE (Spanish Association for Standardization), a full member of the CIS.

The IEC is credited with developing and disseminating standards for some units of measurement, particularly gauss, hertz, and weber; as well as the first proposal for a system of standard units, the Giorgi system, which would eventually become the international system of units.

Internal structure

For its operation, as well as the establishment of regulations, the CEI is divided into technical committees (TC), subcommittees (SC), consultative committees (AC) and special committees; the members of these committees work voluntarily

Examples of each of them:

• Technical Committee 77 (TC77): Electromagnetic compatibility between equipment, including networks.
• Special Committee on Radio Interferences (CISPR, Comité International Spécial des Perturbations Radioélectriques): is a special committee (including members of other organizations) on electromagnetic radio interferences.
• Advisory Committee on Electromagnetic Compatibility (ACEC, Advisory Committee on Electromagnetic Compatibility): its mission is to prevent the development of conflicting standards among different committees such as previous ones.

There are 97 technical committees and 77 subcommittees, totaling 174 working groups. In addition, the advisory committees can be listed alphabetically: ACEA, ACEC, ACEE, ACET, ACOS, ACSEC, and ACTAD.

CIS Mission

The IEC's mission is to promote international cooperation among its members in all areas of electrotechnical standardization. To achieve this, the following objectives have been formulated:

• Knowing the needs of the world market efficiently.
• Promote the use of its standards and global compliance assurance schemes.
• Ensuring and implementing product quality and services through its standards.
• Establish the interoperability conditions of complex systems.
• Increase the efficiency of industrial processes.
• Contribute to the implementation of the concept of human health and safety.
• Contribute to environmental protection.
• Make the new electronic fields known.

Members

Active participation as a member of the IEC gives registered countries the possibility to influence the development of international standardization, representing the interests of all national sectors involved and getting them taken into consideration. Likewise, it constitutes an opportunity to keep up-to-date with cutting-edge technology worldwide.

There are three forms of participation before the CEI: full member, associate member and pre-associated member. The IEC has 88 members in total, each representing a country, and these countries account for 95% of the world's electrical power. There are 62 full members, and 26 associate members.

This body normalizes the broad sphere of electrotechnics, from the area of electrical power to the areas of electronics, communications, conversion of nuclear energy and the transformation of solar or wind energy into electrical energy.

Full Members

Associate members (limited voting and management rights)