Laser product safety standardization projects of CENELEC TC 76 Available to Purchase

In this paper, we report on two European laser safety standardization projects that will lead to European standards without corresponding IEC documents. In one project, an amendment A11 for EN 60825-1:2014 is developed. The amendment can be seen as consisting of two parts: first, technical changes which mainly resulted from a German opposition to the listing of EN 60825-1:2014 as a harmonised standard under the Low Voltage Directive at European Commission level; the changes in practice should not have notable effects for manufacturers. The second part of the amendment is the inclusion of the content of the two IEC Interpretation Sheets in an informative annex. The second project is based on a mandate by the European Commission to develop a safety standard for consumer laser products. The main scope is to define criteria, specifically which lasers and classes are sufficiently safe to be placed on the market as consumer products. Due to varying views on the risk associated to Class 3R laser products within the responsible committee, the development of the standard proves to be a challenge.