IEC 62542:2013

IEC 62542 ®
Edition 1.0 2013-06
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
inside
HORIZONTAL STANDARD
NORME HORIZONTALE
Environmental standardization for electrical and electronic products and
systems – Glossary of terms
Normalisation environnementale pour les produits et les systèmes électriques
et électroniques – Glossaire des termes

All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from
either IEC or IEC's member National Committee in the country of the requester.
If you have any questions about IEC copyright or have an enquiry about obtaining additional rights to this publication,
please contact the address below or your local IEC member National Committee for further information.

Droits de reproduction réservés. Sauf indication contraire, aucune partie de cette publication ne peut être reproduite ni
utilisée sous quelque forme que ce soit et par aucun procédé, électronique ou mécanique, y compris la photocopie et les
microfilms, sans l'accord écrit de la CEI ou du Comité national de la CEI du pays du demandeur.
Si vous avez des questions sur le copyright de la CEI ou si vous désirez obtenir des droits supplémentaires sur cette
publication, utilisez les coordonnées ci-après ou contactez le Comité national de la CEI de votre pays de résidence.

IEC Central Office Tel.: +41 22 919 02 11
3, rue de Varembé Fax: +41 22 919 03 00
CH-1211 Geneva 20 info@iec.ch
Switzerland www.iec.ch
About the IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes
International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.

About IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC. Please make sure that you have the
latest edition, a corrigenda or an amendment might have been published.

Useful links:
IEC publications search - www.iec.ch/searchpub Electropedia - www.electropedia.org
The advanced search enables you to find IEC publications The world's leading online dictionary of electronic and
by a variety of criteria (reference number, text, technical electrical terms containing more than 30 000 terms and
committee,…). definitions in English and French, with equivalent terms in
It also gives information on projects, replaced and additional languages. Also known as the International
withdrawn publications. Electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEV) on-line.

IEC Just Published - webstore.iec.ch/justpublished Customer Service Centre - webstore.iec.ch/csc
Stay up to date on all new IEC publications. Just Published If you wish to give us your feedback on this publication
details all new publications released. Available on-line and or need further assistance, please contact the
also once a month by email. Customer Service Centre: csc@iec.ch.

A propos de la CEI
La Commission Electrotechnique Internationale (CEI) est la première organisation mondiale qui élabore et publie des
Normes internationales pour tout ce qui a trait à l'électricité, à l'électronique et aux technologies apparentées.

A propos des publications CEI
Le contenu technique des publications de la CEI est constamment revu. Veuillez vous assurer que vous possédez
l’édition la plus récente, un corrigendum ou amendement peut avoir été publié.

Liens utiles:
Recherche de publications CEI - www.iec.ch/searchpub Electropedia - www.electropedia.org
La recherche avancée vous permet de trouver des Le premier dictionnaire en ligne au monde de termes
publications CEI en utilisant différents critères (numéro de électroniques et électriques. Il contient plus de 30 000
référence, texte, comité d’études,…). termes et définitions en anglais et en français, ainsi que
Elle donne aussi des informations sur les projets et les les termes équivalents dans les langues additionnelles.
publications remplacées ou retirées. Egalement appelé Vocabulaire Electrotechnique
International (VEI) en ligne.
Just Published CEI - webstore.iec.ch/justpublished
Service Clients - webstore.iec.ch/csc
Restez informé sur les nouvelles publications de la CEI.
Just Published détaille les nouvelles publications parues. Si vous désirez nous donner des commentaires sur
Disponible en ligne et aussi une fois par mois par email. cette publication ou si vous avez des questions
contactez-nous: csc@iec.ch.
IEC 62542 ®
Edition 1.0 2013-06
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
inside
HORIZONTAL STANDARD
NORME HORIZONTALE
Environmental standardization for electrical and electronic products and

systems – Glossary of terms
Normalisation environnementale pour les produits et les systèmes électriques

et électroniques – Glossaire des termes

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
PRICE CODE
INTERNATIONALE
CODE PRIX R
ICS 01.120; 13.020.30; 29.020; 31.020 ISBN 978-2-83220-838-0

– 2 – 62542 © IEC:2013
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 General terms relating to environmental protection and management . 6
4 Terms relating to determination and declaration of substances and materials . 9
5 Terms relating to energy efficiency and power consumption . 11
6 Terms relating to resource conservation and re-use . 13
Annex A (informative) Operating conditions of equipment in respect of power demand . 16
Annex B (informative) Index of terms . 17
Bibliography . 18

Table A.1 – Operating conditions of equipment in respect to power demand . 16

62542 © IEC:2013 – 3 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDIZATION FOR ELECTRICAL
AND ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS AND SYSTEMS –
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any
services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC 62542 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 111:
Environmental standardization for electrical and electronic products and systems.
It has the status of a horizontal standard in accordance with IEC Guide 108.
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
111/302/FDIS 111/312/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

– 4 – 62542 © IEC:2013
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
the stability date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data
related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
IMPORTANT – The 'colour inside' logo on the cover page of this publication indicates
that it contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct
understanding of its contents. Users should therefore print this document using a
colour printer.
62542 © IEC:2013 – 5 –
INTRODUCTION
The definitions noted in this International Standard are intended to be considered by all new
and existing IEC standards under maintenance that are meant to fulfil standardization needs,
associated directly or indirectly, with an environmental topic or which may reference
environmental aspects/impacts, even if the standard is not exclusively an environmental one.
In addition this standard aims to utilise and harmonize definitions in other related documents.
This standard will be updated periodically as relevant international standardization documents
evolve.
Wherever possible, the terms and definitions included herein have been taken from other IEC
or ISO deliverables, either verbatim or modified if appropriate so as to make them suitable for
use in a wide range of IEC deliverables on environmental matters. This standard also contains
definitions for terms that are likely to be required by IEC deliverables on environmental
matters, but are not yet described elsewhere.

– 6 – 62542 © IEC:2013
ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDIZATION FOR ELECTRICAL
AND ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS AND SYSTEMS –
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
1 Scope
This International Standard specifies generic terms and definitions that are related to
environmental standardization within the IEC. It serves as a glossary of terminology to be
considered for environmental aspects of relevant work in IEC.
The terms cover environmental issues that are relevant for electrotechnical products across
all product life cycle stages, including but not limited to
• design and supply chain aspects in general,
• use and declaration of materials,
• analytics of environmentally relevant substances,
• aspects relating to climate protection,
• power consumption and energy efficiency,
• environmental information,
• end of life treatment.
This horizontal standard is primarily intended for use by technical committees in the
preparation of standards in accordance with the principles laid down in IEC Guide 108.
One of the responsibilities of a technical committee is, wherever applicable, to make use of
horizontal standards in the preparation of its publications. The contents of this horizontal
standard will not apply unless specifically referred to or included in the relevant publications.
2 Normative references
The following documents, in whole or in part, are normatively referenced in this document and
are indispensable for its application. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any
amendments) applies.
Guide 108, Guidelines for ensuring the coherency of IEC publications – Application of
horizontal standards
3 General terms relating to environmental protection and management
3.1
design and development
ac
...