An Important Milestone in the Revision of the Standard IEC/IEEE 82079-1 Has Been Achieved

Claudia Klumpp

The standard IEC 82079-1 has been the most important standard for technical communicators and all those working in the field of technical communication since 2012. Edition 2 of this standard is likely to be released in late spring 2019.

Edition 2 will have a new title: "IEC/IEEE 82079-1 Preparation of information for use (instructions for use) of products - Part 1: Principles and general requirements". 

An important step in this direction was the meeting of international Joint Working Group 16 (JWG 16), which is responsible for the revision, at the tekom head office in Stuttgart from July 2–5. 

The main item of this meeting was the discussion and incorporation of 268 comments on IEC/IEEE CDV 82079-1. The comments are from Japan, the Czech Republic, Germany, China, Finland, Sweden, Austria and the USA. 

Some of these comments were related to ISO/DIS 20607 Safety of machinery - Instruction handbook - General drafting principles and the relationship to IEC/IEEE 82079-1. ISO/DIS 20607 Safety of machinery - Instruction handbook - General drafting principles is a new standardization project and is likely to be published in 2019 as well.

The changes resulting from the comments are currently incorporated into the document. Once this process is complete, the superordinate committees will decide whether to follow the recommendation of JWG 16 and proceed to the final draft. IEC/IEEE FDIS 82079-1 will then be ready for a 2-month final vote. 

In total, 14 experts from 6 countries attended the meeting. The Joint Working Group is composed of experts from IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and a liaison of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).

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