The protection of persons against direct contacts is required by certain regulations (in France the Decret of the 14th of November 1988), and specified by electrical installation standards, such as IEC 364. On the other hand, types of external stresses likely to influence the behaviour of equipment are described in IEC 721-2. The protection against some of these influences is often specified in product standards.
Therefore, to explain the degrees of protection that enclosures can provide, and how standards codify them, constitutes an essential information for all, prescribers, installers, operators and inspecting organizations, the purpose of this "Cahier Technique". It replaces "Cahier Technique"
No 6 written in 1982, made obsolete by the revision of IEC 529.
