Overview:

Chinese National mandatory standard GB 4943.1-2022, Audio/video, information and communication technology equipment Part 1: Security requirements, was released on July 19. The standard refers to the international standard IEC 62368-1:2018, there are two main outstanding improvements: on the one hand, the scope of application is further expanded, the new version of the standard integrates the original mandatory national standards GB 4943.1-2011 Information Technology Equipment Security Part 1: General Requirements and GB 8898-2011 Audio, Video and Similar Electronic Equipment Security Requirements, covering all products of audio, video, information and communication technology equipment; on the other hand, there are technically optimizing and upgrade. The new version of the standard raises the concept of safety engineering, proposes energy classification, and takes consideration of following six types of sources of danger: injury caused by electricity, fire caused by electricity, injury caused by harmful substances, injury caused by machinery, thermal burns, sound and light radiation, and put forward the corresponding safety requirements and test methods.

Differences from the old version:

• The application scope of two standards is different. The scope of new GB 4943 national standard will combined the previous version of GB 4943.1-2011 and GB 8898-2011, covering three categories of equipment, audio and video equipment, information technology equipment, communications technology equipment, which we often say “electronic products”.
• Energy source classification and personnel classification are proposed. The new standard GB 4943 classifies the energy sources of products. There are three levels of damage that the energy source can inflict: “No Pain, but you can feel it”, “Pain, but does not cause injury” and “Cause injury”. The standard also divides the corresponding personnel into three categories. Different categories of personnel have different awareness of hazards and different ability to cope with them, so different safety measures are applied to different personnel and different energy source levels. Double safety protection is used for those parts that may cause serious injuries to personnel without specialized knowledge, while the same hazards for professional and technical personnel only require the use of ordinary safety protection.

Differences from the IEC 62368:

• Based on the special conditions of power supply and distribution in China’s buildings, electronic products cannot fully rely on the protection devices in the building facilities to provide protection. The new national standards GB 4943 requires the adoption of more stringent safety measures, requiring electronic products themselves need to have the corresponding overcurrent protection devices and protection ground and signal ground need to take isolation measures.
• Based on our special geographical condition, there are technical differences in safety requirements. For example, international standards are mainly developed for areas lower than 2000m above sea level, while nearly one-third of China’s land is above 2000m above sea level and has a large population living there. There the air is thinner and more prone to electrical breakdown, which in turn causes electric shock injury. To help people living in the high altitude areas to safely use electronic products, the new GB 4943 has a higher demand of air insulation in the process of designing and manufacturing electronic products.
• Based on the China’s climatic conditions, there are technical differences in safety requirements. Considering that a vast area of China is tropical climate, the climate of high temperature and high humidity will reduce the insulation performance of materials, the new GB 4943 fully considers the impact of this tropical climate, and introduces the corresponding technical differences to protect the safety of electronic products used by consumers in tropical climates in China.

Summary：

The new national standard GB 4943 takes full account of electric shock, overheating, fire, mechanical and other hazards and then develops comprehensive and systematic protection requirements. The standard not only reference to international standards to consider the international common safety requirements, but also considers China’s high-altitude areas, tropical climate conditions and other specific national conditions and enhance the safety and protection of special requirements.