Founded in 1906, the IEC today counts nearly 130 countries as its members. All the standards of the IEC are accepted as national standards by the member countries. The standards are laid down by numerous experts from academia, industry and government.
The institute was originally located in London. However, in 1948, it was relocated to Geneva, Switzerland. The Commission now has regional centers in Singapore, Sao Paulo and Boston.
The IEC publishes in two languages, English and French, although Russian Editions and Spanish Translations are also available.
The IEC is responsible for a wide range of publications such as International Standards, Technical Reports, Technical Specifications, Technology Trend assessment etc. It is estimated that nearly 10000 experts work for the IEC.
The standards of the IEC are prepared by numerous Technical Committees and Sub-committees. These committees are peopled by experts from government, industry, test laboratories and academia. The standards prepared by the committees are studied by the National Commitees, which represent the member countries are then voted to become international standards. The documentation of the standards is exclusively electronic which makes distribution efficient and environment-friendly.
The standards of the IEC follow a definite numbering pattern. The numbers range from 60000 to 79999. For instance, IEC 60076 deals with Power Transformers.
The IEC standards can be purchased online at
http://webstore.iec.ch
Useful links
http://www.electropedia.org The online dictionary for electro-technical terms
http://www.iec.ch Home page of the IEC