IEC 60601-1 third edition - philosophy and changes

IEC 60601-1 has a long history. We are now approaching the end of the project to develop the third edition, with the Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) due for circulation in May. The National Electrotechnical Committees around the world have submitted several thousand comments on successive drafts, which have resulted in a lot of changes to the details, but the major differences from the second edition that we introduced in the first Committee Draft in 1999 have survived. I am basing this presentation on the draft that was circulated this time last year, which was the second Committee Draft with Vote (2CDV), but to the best of my belief everything that I am saying will remain true of the FDIS.