| Full title | IEC 60364, Low-voltage electrical installations (multi-part series) |
| Publisher | International Electrotechnical Commission, Technical Committee 64 |
| European adoption | CENELEC harmonisation documents, HD 60364 |
| National rules built on it | BS 7671 (UK), DIN VDE 0100 (Germany), I.S. 10101 (Ireland) |
| Status | Current. Parts are revised individually, so each has its own edition |
What IEC 60364 is
IEC 60364 is the international standard for low-voltage electrical installations, covering installations with nominal voltages up to 1000 V AC or 1500 V DC. It is published as a series of separate parts, each revised on its own timetable.
Most installers never work from IEC 60364 directly. In Europe it is adopted by CENELEC as the HD 60364 harmonisation documents, which national committees then implement in their own wiring rules. In the UK that is BS 7671, which follows HD 60364 in technical intent and largely keeps the same section numbering, though the wording is not identical and there are UK-specific additions.
The 2025 edition of Part 1 states that the series covers fixed wiring for information and communication technology and signalling, including the installation and support of fibre optic cables.
Structure
| Part | Title | Edition listed by IEC |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fundamental principles, assessment of general characteristics, definitions | Ed. 6.0, 2025 |
| 4-41 | Protection against electric shock | 2005+AMD1:2017 |
| 4-42 | Protection against thermal effects | Ed. 4.0, 2024 |
| 4-43 | Protection against overcurrent | 2023 |
| 4-44 | Protection against voltage disturbances and electromagnetic disturbances | Ed. 3.0, 2024 |
| 5-51 | Selection and erection of electrical equipment: common rules | 2005 |
| 5-52 | Wiring systems | 2009+AMD1:2024 |
| 5-53 | Devices for protection for safety, isolation, switching, control and monitoring | Ed. 4.0, 2019, with amendments |
| 5-54 | Earthing arrangements and protective conductors | 2011+AMD1:2021 |
| 6 | Verification | Ed. 2.0, 2016 |
| 7-7xx | Requirements for special installations or locations | Varies by part |
| 8 | Functional aspects, including energy efficiency (Part 8-81, which replaced Part 8-1 in 2026) | Varies by part |
Editions as listed on the IEC webstore in October 2026. Check the webstore for the latest before specifying a part.
Parts that matter for data cabling
| IEC part and clause | What it covers | BS 7671 equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| 4-44, clause 444 | Measures against electromagnetic influences: mitigation of interference, signal cables, earthing and equipotential bonding for IT installations, segregation of circuits and cable management systems | Section 444 |
| 5-54, clause 545 | Functional earthing and functional equipotential bonding for ICT equipment, the main functional earthing terminal and bonding ring conductors. Added by Amendment 1 in 2021 | Section 545 (Amendment 4) |
| 7-716 (2023) | ELV DC power distribution over ICT cable infrastructure, including IEEE 802.3 Power over Ethernet | Section 716 (Amendment 4) |
| 5-52 | Selection and erection of wiring systems | Chapter 52 |
IEC 60364-7-716 applies to ELV DC power carried over balanced cabling defined in ISO/IEC 11801-1, supplied by power sourcing equipment complying with IEC 62368-3. It covers design, erection and verification, including reusing existing telecommunications cabling for power.
Earthing systems
Part 1 defines the system types used across the series and in BS 7671: TN-S, TN-C, TN-C-S, TT and IT. The first letter describes the supply’s relationship to earth, the second the relationship of the exposed conductive parts to earth.
Voltage bands
Band I and Band II were originally defined in IEC 60449. That standard was withdrawn in 2016 and its content moved into IEC 61140, Protection against electric shock, which is now the reference for voltage bands.
Read our summary of BS 7671 Amendment 4 for how Sections 545 and 716 apply in the UK.