The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a body
responsible for implementing international standards. Its technical
committees are comprised of representatives from various member national standards, where each country is entitled to one vote during the process of creation and issuing the standard. The standards generally have an IEC prefix to their number (CEI for French versions). IEC standards are produced in English and French languages. For most countries the adoption of these standards is voluntary, and often selected content of the standard is absorbed and introduced as improvements to that countrys own standard. Also, within Europe, there exists the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC). The member countries currently include Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. IEC and CENELEC generally work in parallel, and CENELEC members vote to adopt new IEC standards as CENELEC standards. The committees of CENELEC may choose to make some alterations to the IEC version. Additionally, CENELEC produce their own standards to which IEC have no counterpart. CENELEC documents are produced in English, French and German and an approved CENELEC standard will have an EN prefix (or NE in the French language versions). The important fact with CENELEC standards is that by rule the member countries are bound to adopt all CENELEC standards as national standards. In the process of adopting these standards, minimum changes are permitted. In-country clauses (exceptions or changes) can only be made under very strict circumstances. When such standards are adopted at the national level, any conflicting national standard must be withdrawn (an overlap period is permitted). For the EN IEC 62305 series of lightning protection standards, each member country has introduced these at a national level by November 2006 and has withdrawn any conflicting standards by February 2009. At each level (International, European, National) a different naming prefix convention is used For example: IEC 62305-1 (IEC version) EN 62305-1 (CENELEC adopted copy of the above) BS EN 62305-1 (British National Standard adoption of the above) This document focuses upon the IEC/EN standards and, for a specific design, the applicable national standards should be referred to in order to ascertain if differences exist. Reference in this document is given to standards being either design or component standards. Design standards are those used by the lightning protection designer or installer to determine the type and placement of the lightning protection system. Component standards are those used by the manufacturer of the lightning protection hardware (components) to ensure the hardware is of adequate specification and quality.