Standardization related to Electromagnetic Compatibility and Functional Safety

Standardization related to electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is dealt with in a broad range of documents whereas most of them are given in the IEC 61000-X-Y series which includes International Standards, Technical Specifications or Technical Reports. This series is further accompanied by a lot of product family or product specific standards that contain corresponding EMC requirements. Since several years the topic of functional safety of electrical and electronic systems has become more and more important and this topic is related to EMC insofar as an adequate immunity against electromagnetic phenomena is required to prevent safety-related systems and equipment used in them from being harmfully affected, i.e. to avoid an unsafe behaviour of such systems when being exposed to electromagnetic phenomena. Hence the need has arisen to merge the topics of EMC and functional safety, respectively, not only from a technical point of view but in terms of standardization as well. This paper describes the current situation regarding standards dealing with both the areas, with the emphasis on IEC standards. It discusses the challenges which appear in the frame of working out standards considering the approaches in both the areas appropriately.