Period reviewed: 1–31 August 2026. The main picture this month is that several IEC safety/EMC standards and ETSI radio standards progressed, but no new EU OJEU harmonisation decision was identified during August for the EMC Directive, LVD or RED.
An IEC or ETSI publication should therefore not automatically be treated as a newly harmonised EN standard.
EMC
IEC 60974-10:2020/AMD1:2026 — Arc welding equipment — Part 10: EMC requirements
- Published: 14 August 2026.
- Status: Amendment 1 to the 2020 edition; consolidated edition is now IEC 60974-10:2020+AMD1:2026, Edition 4.1.
- Change: Formal amendment to the EMC requirements for arc-welding equipment and associated equipment. IEC provides the consolidated version with amendment changes incorporated.
- Compliance impact: Review recommended if you manufacture or test welding power sources, wire feeders, cooling systems, battery chargers or associated welding equipment. Existing EMC reports should be gap-checked against Amendment 1 before deciding whether additional testing is necessary.
- EU transition/date of cessation: None identified. Publication by IEC does not itself create EMC Directive presumption of conformity; the relevant EN adoption/reference would need OJEU publication.
IEC 60533:2026 — Electrical and electronic installations in ships — EMC
- Status: Final Draft / pre-release, opened for voting from 14 August to 25 September 2026; it is not yet the final International Standard.
- Major proposed changes: Introduction of a risk-based approach for non-maritime equipment fitted aboard ships; revised EMC zoning with separate spatial and power-grid zones; increased upper-frequency coverage; integration of requirements from IEC 62742; and clearer allocation of EMC responsibilities between parties involved in shipbuilding.
- Impact: Monitor, particularly for marine equipment. Do not update a compliance declaration on the basis of the FDIS alone.
EU EMC harmonisation
- No August 2026 OJEU change identified. The Commission’s current EMC page still lists Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1326 and amendments up to 9 June 2022.
Electrical Safety / LVD
IEC 60335-2-16:2022/AMD1:2026 — Food waste disposers
- Published: 3 August 2026.
- Status: Amendment 1.
- Changes include: Revisions concerning terminology/classification, accessible-surface temperature-rise requirements, abnormal-operation testing, and construction/control provisions, including remote operation and delayed-start considerations.
- Compliance impact: Review required where applicable. Existing safety test reports for food waste disposers should be gap-assessed against the amendment; retesting depends on whether the changed clauses affect the particular product.
- EU transition/date of cessation: None identified for an EN/OJEU reference this month.
IEC 60335-2-40:2024/AMD1:2026 — Electrical heat pumps, air-conditioners and dehumidifiers
- Published: 13 August 2026.
- Status: Amendment 1 to Edition 8.
- Change: Formal amendment to the 2024 safety standard. IEC’s public catalogue confirms a substantial 22-page amendment but does not provide a reliable clause-by-clause public summary.
- Compliance impact: Gap assessment recommended for heat pumps, air conditioners and dehumidifiers tested to IEC 60335-2-40:2024. Do not assume an existing 2024 report automatically covers Amendment 1.
- EU transition/date of cessation: No corresponding August OJEU LVD change identified.
IEC 62841-2-25:2026 — Hand-held chain beam saws
- Published: 28 August 2026.
- Status: New International Standard, first edition.
- Change: Introduces particular safety requirements for hand-held chain beam saws used for cutting wood or similar material, used with IEC 62841-1.
- Transition: IEC TC 116 recommends national implementation not earlier than 36 months after publication, giving manufacturers and laboratories time to adapt.
- Compliance impact: Relevant manufacturers should begin design/test-plan review, but this is not automatically an EU LVD harmonised EN.
IEC TS 61641:2026 — Low-voltage switchgear/controlgear assemblies — Internal arc-fault protection
- Published: 19 August 2026.
- Status: New Technical Specification; replaces IEC TR 61641:2014 and IEC TS 63107:2020.
- Changes: Combines passive and active internal arc-fault protection approaches, introduces clearer use of zones/areas and “arcing class zones”, and classifies assembly protection into levels.
- Compliance impact: Important for LV switchgear assemblies where internal arc-fault mitigation is specified. Review internal-arc verification procedures and specifications.
- It does not supersede the applicable individual product standards.
IEC 62841-4-3:2020/AMD1:2025/COR1:2026 — Walk-behind lawnmowers
- Published: 13 August 2026.
- Status: Corrigendum 1 to Amendment 1; IEC now marks the consolidated document as “Corrected Version 2026-08.”
- Impact: Organisations using Amendment 1:2025 should replace/check their copy against the corrected text. A corrigendum does not necessarily mean full retesting—first determine whether the corrected provisions affect your assessment.
IEC 61540:2023/COR1:2026 — Portable residual current devices (PRCDs)
- Published: 7 August 2026.
- Status: Corrigendum 1; IEC now identifies IEC 61540:2023 as a corrected version 2026-08.
- Impact: Check PRCD design/test documentation using IEC 61540:2023 and incorporate the corrected text.
IEC 60851-5:2026 — Winding wires — Electrical test methods
- Published: 13 August 2026.
- Status: New 5th edition, replacing the 2008 edition plus Amendments 1:2011 and 2:2019; the previous edition was withdrawn on 13 August 2026.
- Key technical change: Expanded conductor-size ranges for loads used during cylinder-method dielectric breakdown testing of enamelled and fully insulated wires.
- Impact: Relevant mainly to component/material qualification laboratories and winding-wire suppliers rather than general finished-product LVD testing.
EU LVD harmonisation
- No new August 2026 OJEU amendment identified. The latest changes shown by the Commission remain those from July 2025.
- The Commission also warns that its downloadable LVD summary lists have not been updated since April 2025 due to database maintenance, so the Implementing Decisions/OJEU should be treated as the authoritative source.
ISO
- No material final ISO publication was identified this month within the general EMC/LVD scope.
- One specialised watch item is ISO/AWI 2678, covering insulation resistance and high-voltage tests for aircraft electrical equipment. A new revision project was approved on 21 August 2026 and is intended eventually to replace ISO 2678:1985.
- It is only at the project stage, so no compliance action is required yet.
ETSI / Radio Equipment
ETSI EN 301 908-13 V13.4.1 — E-UTRA User Equipment
- Status: Final deliverable adopted for publication on 21 August 2026, with ETSI publication scheduled for 31 August 2026.
- Key changes: Extends OTA antenna-performance requirements for Receiver Total Radiated Sensitivity (TRS) and Total Radiated Power (TRP) to devices over 72 mm wide, and introduces the relevant Power Class 2 requirements for Band 41.
- Compliance impact: LTE/E-UTRA UE manufacturers should assess products against V13.4.1, particularly wider devices and Band 41 products.
- Harmonisation: Not yet newly cited in the OJEU. V13.3.1 remains the version shown as OJ-cited from May 2025. Therefore V13.4.1 should not yet be treated as providing a new RED Article 3.2 presumption of conformity.
ETSI EN 301 908-26 V1.0.0 — Aerial User Equipment
- Status: TB approval achieved 13 August 2026 and the deliverable approval procedure started 27 August 2026.
- Scope: New harmonised-standard work covering LTE/NR aerial UE, including equipment fitted to drones/UAS and manned aircraft, supporting RED Article 3.2.
- Impact: Manufacturers developing aerial cellular equipment should begin a compliance gap assessment.
- Transition/OJEU: Not yet published/cited. ETSI’s current work plan indicates approval closing 19 November 2026, with publication/OJEU stages planned later; these are planning dates rather than legal transition dates.
ETSI EN 300 440-3 — SRD intrusion radiodetermination equipment, 1 GHz–40 GHz
- Status: Still under development. ETSI’s work programme had a stable-draft milestone planned for 18 August 2026, but its 30 August status still showed the project at early draft, indicating that the planned milestone had not yet been reflected as completed.
- Impact: Monitor only; no immediate product-compliance change.
EU RED harmonisation
- No new August 2026 OJEU amendment identified. The Commission currently lists amendments to Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2191 through 9 December 2025.
Priority Actions
Review now: IEC 60974-10 Amendment 1 if you have welding equipment; IEC 60335-2-40 Amendment 1 for HVAC/heat-pump products; IEC 60335-2-16 Amendment 1 for food waste disposers; and the IEC 62841-4-3 / IEC 61540 corrigenda where those standards are already in your technical files.
Monitor: ETSI EN 301 908-13 V13.4.1 and EN 301 908-26 for future OJEU citation, and IEC 60533:2026 until its final publication.
Regulatory position: No new EMC, LVD or RED harmonised-standard citation/withdrawal was identified in the EU OJEU during August 2026, so there is no new EU date-of-cessation triggered this month in those three areas.
