Harmonization of IEEE and IEC electrical insulation standards

The purpose of this paper is to present a status report on efforts to harmonize electrical insulation test procedures and specifications between IEEE and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The paper deals mainly with the efforts of IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee 4 (SCC 4): Electrical Insulation, but also refers to related work being done by other IEEE Groups. The intent is to write new IEEE standards as truly international standards which could be accepted with little or no change as IEC standards. The harmonizing of existing standards is a multistep process, including (1) comparing scopes, test procedures, requirements, units of measure, etc., (2) identifying differences, (3) harmonizing wherever agreement can be reached and (4) clearly identifying the remaining areas of disagreement that need to be resolved. SCC 4 is conducting an initial-comparison of each standard for which it is the sponsor or cosponsor with the closest corresponding IEC standard and is developing a harmonization plan. This paper uses specific documents as examples to show the steps involved and the decisions which must be made in order to complete the work. When the standards to be harmonized cover different scopes and contain different requirements, a series of questions must be addressed. What is the basis for each difference? Can the differences be resolved in a single document? And most importantly, what is the intent of harmonization? Resolution of these questions require input from the electrical industry.