IEC Launched Itself Into The World Wide Web

The IEC has launched itself onto the world wide web (WWW) part of the internet, thus entering one of the fastest-growing areas of international information exchange and commerce. In doing so, the Commission is positioning itself to make the best use of new electronic, tools in its standardization work through to the end of this century and on into the next. The IEC's universal resource location, or URL, is http://www.iec.ch and visitors to the site will be able to search the Commission database by using any one of the several search engines available, download certain documents and order IEC standards. Some people who are directly involved in the IEC's standardization work, and who are granted access privileges, will also be able to download administrative and working documents from specific, protected areas of the website. To make use of the information on the site, it is necessary to have a connection to the internet and a web browser able to deal with tables (e.g. Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer).

The new website has six basic areas:

• General Information
• Sales and Enquiries
• Document and Resource
• News Releases
• Databases
• e-mail IEC's Webmaster

IEC Adopts New Numbering System

On 1st January this year, at the recommendation of the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Advisory Board (JTAB), the International Efectrotechnical Commission, IEC, introduced a new numbering system for all its international standards, guides and technical reports.

A block of numbers ranging from 60000 to 79999 is now to be used by the IEC when assigning numbers to its publications. Thus, the present [EC 950 will become IEC 60950 and IEC 1158-2 will become IEC 61158-2, to give but two examples from the current catalogue.

This is the system similar to the one used at the European level where, when IEC standards are harmonized by the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and adopted for use within the European Union, they have 60000 added to their numeric identifier.

The debate over a harmonized international alphanumeric system for standards identification has been going on for some time. But in the summer of 1996 JTAB recommended to both the IEC and International Organization for Standardization, 130'that a unified system for numbering of international standards be adopted (ISO will employ numbers ranging from 1 to 59999).

At the IEC General Meeting in Dresden last September, the Committee on Action, which oversees the technical aspects of the IEC's work, accepted JTAB's recommendation. The go-ahead to put the new system into operation at the start of 1997 came in mid- December.

Kenya Joins The IEC Community

Kenya became the newest member of the IEC on 1st March 1997, thus bringing the Commission's total membership to 54. The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) had joined the IEC community as a pre- associate member, a new status that was adopted 'in 1995 at the IEC General Meeting in Durban.

There are now a total of three kinds of membership in the IEC: full, associate and pre-associate member. Full member pay full dues and have the right to participate in all the activities of the Commission. Associate members have more restricted right (no vote) and pay lower dues.

Pre-associate Membership is designed to help countries that do not yet meet the requirements for associate status become gradually involved in the Commission's work. The new type of membership helps a country to set up the infrastructure of an electrotechnical committee for a yearly fee equal to 1 0 per cent of the minimum dues for full membership.