scope:

This International Standard is a basic safety publication. It applies to the protection of persons and livestock against electric shock. The intent is to give fundamental principles and requirements which are common to electrical installations, systems and equipment or necessary for their co-ordination, without limitations with regard to the magnitude of the voltage or current, or the type of current, and for frequencies up to 1 000 Hz. Some clauses in this standard refer to low-voltage and high-voltage systems, installations and equipment. For the purpose of this standard, low-voltage is any rated voltage up to and including 1 000 V a.c. or 1 500 V d.c. High voltage is any rated voltage exceeding 1 000 V a.c. or 1 500 V d.c. NOTE For an efficient design and selection of protective measures the type of voltage that may occur and its shape needs to be considered, i.e. a.c. or d.c. voltage, sinusoidal, transient, phase controlled, superimposed d.c., as well as a possible mixture of these forms. The installations or equipment may influence the shape of the voltage, e.g. by inverters or converters. The currents flowing under normal operating conditions and under fault conditions depend on the described voltage.