International Electrotechnical Commission

The IEC is the world leader in preparing international standards for all electrical, electronic, and related technologies. A global, not-for-profit membership organisation, the IEC provides a neutral and independent institutional framework to around 170 countries, coordinating the work of some 30,000 experts. We administer four IEC Conformity Assessment Systems, representing the largest working multilateral agreement based on the one-time testing of products globally. The members of each system certify that devices, systems, installations, services, and people perform as required.

IEC international standards represent a global consensus of state-of-the-art know-how and expertise. Together with conformity assessment, they are foundational for international trade.

IEC standards incorporate the needs of many stakeholders in every participating country and form the basis for testing and certification. Experts come from both developed and developing countries. Each member country and all its stakeholders represented through the IEC National Committees have one vote and a say in what goes into an IEC international standard.

Our work is used to verify the safety, performance, and interoperability of electric and electronic devices and systems such as mobile phones, refrigerators, office and medical equipment, or electricity generation. It also helps accelerate digital transformation, AI, or virtual reality applications, protects information technology (IT) and critical infrastructure systems from cyberattacks and increases the safety of people and the environment.

Digital activities 

The IEC works to ensure that its activities have a global reach to meet all the challenges of digital transformation worldwide. The organisation covers an array of digital policy issues. IEC international standards and conformity assessment play a crucial role in shaping global AI and digital policies by providing a structured, collaborative, and consensus-driven framework that addresses technical, ethical, and governance challenges.

Digital policy issues

Artificial intelligence

AI applications are driving digital transformation across diverse industries, including energy, healthcare, smart manufacturing, transport, and other strategic sectors that rely on IEC Standards and Conformity Assessment Systems. AI technologies allow insights and analytics that go far beyond the capabilities of legacy analytic systems.

For example, the digital transformation of the grid enables increased automation, making it more efficient and able to seamlessly integrate fluctuating renewable energy sources. IEC standards pave the way for the use of a variety of digital technologies relating to intelligent energy. They deal with issues such as the integration of renewable energies within the electrical network but also increased automatisation.

A joint IEC and ISO technical committee on AI, JTC1/SC 42, brings together technology experts, as well as ethicists, lawyers, social scientists, and others to develop generic and foundational standards (horizontal standards). IEC experts focus on sector-specific needs (vertical standards) and conformity assessment.

JTC 1/SC 42 addresses concerns about the use and application of AI technologies. For example, data quality standards for ML and analytics are crucial for helping to ensure that applied technologies produce useful insights and eliminate faulty features.

Governance standards in AI and the big data analytics business process framework address how the technologies can be governed and overseen from a management perspective. International standards in the areas of trustworthiness, ethics, and societal concerns will ensure responsible deployment.

Quantum computing

The joint IEC and ISO technical committee for quantum technologies, IEC/ISO JTC 3, is working on standards for all aspects of quantum, including computing, metrology, sources, detectors, communications and fundamental quantum technologies.

Cloud computing

The joint ISO/IEC technical committee prepares standards for cloud computing, including distributed platforms and edge devices. The standards cover key requirements relating to data storage and recovery.

Network security and critical infrastructure

The IEC develops cybersecurity standards and conformity assessment for IT and operational technology (OT). Cybersecurity is often understood only in terms of IT, which leaves critical infrastructure, such as power utilities, transport systems, manufacturing plants and hospitals, vulnerable to attacks.

Digital tools

The IEC has developed a number of online tools and services designed to help everyone with their daily activities.

Find out more
IEC website
IEC news and blog
IEC e-tech

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