IEC 60757:2021

IEC 60757 ®
Edition 2.0 2021-06
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
inside
BASIC SAFETY PUBLICATION
PUBLICATION FONDAMENTALE DE SÉCURITÉ
Code for designation of colours

Code de désignation de couleurs

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IEC 60757 ®
Edition 2.0 2021-06
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
inside
BASIC SAFETY PUBLICATION
PUBLICATION FONDAMENTALE DE SÉCURITÉ

Code for designation of colours

Code de désignation de couleurs

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
INTERNATIONALE
ICS 01.070; 29.020 ISBN 978-2-8322-9881-7

– 2 – IEC 60757:2021 © IEC 2021
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
1 Scope . 5
2 Normative references . 5
3 Terms and definitions . 5
4 Letter codes for colours . 5
5 Application of colour designations . 6
5.1 Multiple colours on the same item . 6
5.2 Alternating colours of the same item . 6
5.3 Colours on different subitems of an item . 6
Annex A (informative) Examples of colours . 7

Table 1 – Colours and their letter code . 6
Table A.1 – Examples of the colours and their RGB encoding . 7

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
CODE FOR DESIGNATION OF COLOURS

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.
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any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in the latter.
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6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
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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.
IEC 60757 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 3: Documentation, graphical symbols
and representations of technical information. It is an International Standard.
It has the status of a basic safety publication in accordance with IEC Guide 104.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 1983. This edition
constitutes a technical revision.
This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous
edition:
a) codes restricted to letter codes;
b) removed old unnecessary notes;
c) added a new subclause on alternating colours of the same item;
d) added Annex A with examples of colours and their corresponding RGB (red, green, blue)
encoding.
– 4 – IEC 60757:2021 © IEC 2021
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
3/1486/FDIS 3/1513/RVD
Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
The language used for the development of this International Standard is English.
This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in
accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC Supplement, available
at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types developed by IEC are
described in greater detail at www.iec.ch/standardsdev/publications.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data related to
the specific document. At this date, the document 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.

CODE FOR DESIGNATION OF COLOURS

1 Scope
This document specifies letter codes for designation of colours and provides rules for their
combination to designate colour combinations. The letter codes are intended to be applied in
the technical documentation of electrical installations, electrical equipment and products, and
in markings of electrical equipment and products.
This basic safety publication focusing on safety essential requirements is primarily intended for
use by technical committees in the preparation of safety publications in accordance with the
principles laid down in IEC Guide 104 and ISO/IEC Guide 51.
It is not intended for use by manufacturers or certification bodies. One of the responsibilities of
a technical committee is, wherever applicable, to make use of basic safety publications in the
preparation of its publications. The requirements of this basic safety publication will not apply
unless specifically referred to or included in the relevant publications.
This document does not specify any requirements for the encoding of colour properties, nor for
their visual representation. Such requirements are under the responsibility of the different
technical committees.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies.
For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any
amendments) applies.
IEC 60445, Basic and safety principles for man-machine interface, marking and identification –
Identification of equipment terminals, conductor terminations and conductors
3 Terms and definitions
No terms and definitions are listed in this document.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
4 Letter codes for colours
For the designation of a colour, the following applies:
• for colours listed in Table 1, the designation shall be in accordance with the letter code
specified in Table 1;
• for other colours, the letter code applied shall be specified in supporting documentation.

– 6 – IEC 60757:2021 © IEC 2021
Table 1 – Colours and their letter code
Colour Letter code
Black BK
Brown BN
Red RD
Orange OG
Green GN
Yellow YE
Blue BU
Violet VT
Grey GY
White WH
Pink PK
Gold GD
Turquoise TQ
Silver SR
NOTE 1 Annex A shows examples of the colours together with their RGB encoding. As there is no colour matching
required or implied, the colours are selected to be unambiguously different.
NOTE 2 The sequence of the colours GREEN and YELLOW in Table 1 has been modified compared to that in the
first edition of IEC 60757 in order to be in line with the colour code of the combination GREEN-AND-YELLOW, GNYE.
However, since the colour YELLOW is the next colour in the sequence after the colour GREEN, the change of
sequence has no impact for designation of combinations of the other colours listed. It is foreseen that the sequence
of the colours listed in Table 1 be maintained in future editions of IEC 60757.
5 Application of colour designations
5.1 Multiple colours on the same item
Where an item is coloured with different colours, the colour designation for that item shall be
formed by adding the colour codes for the
...