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Updated on 2023-11-21
Rules for use of capitals

General

Estimated reading: 3 minutes

Capital letters should always be used when writing the names of people, positions and/or functions, places and brands that are proprietary to the IEC

Examples1

IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission)
IECEE (IEC System of Conformity Assessment Schemes for Electrotechnical Equipment and Components)
IECEx (IEC System for Certification to Standards Relating to Equipment for Use in Explosive Atmospheres)
IECQ (IEC Quality Assessment System)
IECRE (IEC System for Certification to Standards Relating to Equipment for Use in Renewable Energy Applications)
Yinbiao Shu, IEC President
IEC President-Elect [with hyphen]
IEC Immediate Past President
IEC Past President
IEC Vice-President [with hyphen]
IEC Secretary-General & CEO
IEC Officer
IEC Technical Officer
IEC Ambassador
IEC Chair
IEC Secretary
IEC Convenor
IEC SMB Member
IEC CAB Member
IEC MSB Member
IEC National Committee
IEC Central Office
IEC Regional Centre
Manager IEC Regional Centre for North America
Regional Director IEC Latin America Regional Centre
Regional Director IEC Asia-Pacific Regional Centre
Regional Director IEC Africa Regional Centre
Executive Secretary IECEE and IECRE
Executive Secretary IECEx and IECQ
IECEE Member
IECEx Member
IECQ Member
IECRE Member
IEC Electropedia, Electropedia

Note

This list is not exhaustive. Please feel free to communicate any additional item

The following things are unique to the IEC and should always be capitalized when immediately preceded by IEC. When not preceded by IEC, do not capitalize

Examples1

IEC International Standard → the list of international standards published by the IEC [see 2.2]

IEC Conformity Assessment Systems, IEC CA Systems → the IEC administers conformity assessment systems [see 2.3]

IEC Webstore → the list of IEC International Standards available on the webstore

IEC White Paper → the list of white papers published by the IEC

IEC Technology Report → the list of technology reports published by the IEC

IEC Technical Specification → the list of technical specifications published by the IEC

IEC Technical Report → the list of technical reports published by the IEC

IEC Publicly Available Specification → the list of publicly available specifications published by the IEC

IEC Guide → the list of guides published by the IEC

The following things are unique to the IEC, but
when used with a specific reference or a title, they should always be capitalized
when used in a general sense, they should not be capitalized

Examples1

IEC National Electrotechnical Committee of Cameroon → the list of IEC national electrotechnical committees

Peru becomes IEC Member → the list of IEC members [countries]

Finland is IEC Full Member → the list of IEC full members

Latvia is IEC Associate Member → the list of IEC associate members

Cambodia is new IEC Affiliate → the list of IEC affiliates

IEC Technical Committee 86, IEC Subcommittee 86A → the list of IEC technical committees and subcommittees

IEC Systems Committee Smart cities → the list of IEC systems committees

IEC Advisory Committee on electricity transmission and distribution → the list of IEC advisory committees

IEC Standardization Evaluation Group 7: Smart manufacturing → the list of IEC standardization evaluation groups

Exception

IEC Systems Resource Group

Capital letters are always used in the following instances since these are registered trademarks

Examples1

Bluetooth
Wi-Fi

Note

This list is not exhaustive. Please feel free to communicate any additional item

The following instances should not be capitalized

Examples1

IEC conformity assessment
IEC family
IEC systems activities or systems activities
IEC systems approach or systems approach
IEC systems architecture or systems architecture
IEC systems standard development or systems standard development
IEC systems standardization or systems standardization
IEC systems work or systems work
IEC voting system or voting system microelectromechanical systems
active assisted living
big data
cyber attack
cyber security
cyber threat
ecodesign
electrical energy storage
email
energy efficiency
functional safety
healthcare
homepage
internet
microgrids
offline
online
renewable energy
smart city
smart grid
smartphone
standards development
systems expert
systems proficiency
UNECE regulations website
wireless sensor network

Exception

Internet of Things

Note

This list is not exhaustive. Please feel free to communicate any additional item

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