IEC GUIDE 109:2012

IEC GUIDE 109 ®
Edition 3.0 2012-06
GUIDE
GUIDE
Environmental aspects – Inclusion in electrotechnical product standards

Aspects liés à l'environnement – Prise en compte dans les normes
électrotechniques de produits
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IEC GUIDE 109 ®
Edition 3.0 2012-06
GUIDE
GUIDE
Environmental aspects – Inclusion in electrotechnical product standards

Aspects liés à l'environnement – Prise en compte dans les normes

électrotechniques de produits
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
PRICE CODE
INTERNATIONALE
CODE PRIX Q
ICS 13.020 ISBN 978-2-83220-141-1

– 2 – Guide 109  IEC:2012
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope . 7
2 Normative references . 7
3 Terms and definitions . 7
4 Product standards and the environment . 9
4.1 General . 9
4.2 Influence of provisions in product standards on the environment . 10
4.3 Environmental strategies . 12
5 Inputs and outputs to be considered in the development of product standards . 13
5.1 General . 13
5.2 Inputs . 14
5.3 Outputs . 14
Annex A Checklist for the consideration of environmental aspects in product standards. 15
Bibliography . 16

Figure 1 – Relationship between provisions in product standards and the
environmental aspects and impacts associated with the product during its life cycle . 11

Guide 109  IEC:2012 – 3 –
ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS –
INCLUSION IN ELECTROTECHNICAL PRODUCT STANDARDS

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
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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
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This third edition of IEC Guide 109 has been prepared, in accordance with ISO/IEC
Directives, Part 1, Annex A, by the IEC Advisory Committee on Environmental Aspects
(ACEA). This guide is a non-mandatory guide in accordance with SMB Decision 136/8.
This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition edition published in 2003.
The main changes with respect to the previous edition are as follows. This new edition:
− is aligned to the revised ISO Guide 64 as far as it is relevant for standard writers;
− emphasizes life cycle thinking as described in the horizontal standard IEC 62430;
− provides a more elaborated check list in the annex.

– 4 – Guide 109  IEC:2012
The text of this IEC Guide is based on the following documents:
Four month’s vote Report on voting
C/1715/DV C/1730/RV
Full information on the voting for the approval of this Guide 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.

Guide 109  IEC:2012 – 5 –
INTRODUCTION
This Guide aims to give advice to standards writers on the way environment aspects should
be considered and taken into account as applicable during the development of standards.
Finding an appropriate solution for the product is the task of product designers; this solution
will be a trade-off along various dimensions (safety, environment, cost, technology, function
and so on). This Guide is intended for standards writers and not for product designers; it aims
at encouraging standards that preserve the natural environment while allowing designers to
reach the best practical compromise among the constraints.
1)
The need to reduce the adverse impacts on the natural environment based on a product’s
aspects during all stages of its life – from acquiring materials to manufacturing, distribution,
use, and end-of-life treatment (i.e. re-use, recycling) – is recognized in most countries around
the world. One achieves reduction of adverse environmental impacts by improving a product’s
environmental aspects. The choices made at the design stage largely determine what those
impacts will be during each stage of the life of that product. There are, however, considerable
obstacles that make the task of selecting the best environmental options very complex. For
example, selecting design options to improve environmental aspects can involve difficult
trade-offs, such as that a more energy efficient design causes the product to become less
recyclable.
Requirements for products may influence significantly the extent of environmental impacts.
Standards should promote flexibility in the selection of design options in order to improve
environmental aspects. Furthermore, standards must not prohibit innovation in any sense.
Standards writers should encourage the protection of the environment, for instance, by
specifying requirements that do not rule out the appropriate use of recycled material and the
re-use of components, subsystems and systems.
The continual introduction of new products and materials can make evaluation increasingly
complex, since additional data must be gathered to assess the life cycle impacts and aspects
of such new products and materials. Moreover, there is currently very little data available on
the environmental impacts of some materials. However, the data which exists can be used as
a basis for improvement of the products with respect to environmental aspects.
IEC 62430 specifies principles of life cycle thinking (LCT) with its essential steps as well as
2)
tools such as life cycle
various general environmentally conscious design (ECD)
assessment (LCA).
IEC 62430 gives all those involved information on how to integrate ECD principles into
product design and development. Standards writers are not expected to perform life cycle
assessment (LCA) but to facilitate ECD as far as possible.
Until more data are available, manufacturers can doc
...