IEC 62321-2 Ed. 2.0 b:2021

Determination of certain substances in electrotechnical products - Part 2: Disassembly, disjointment and mechanical sample preparation

IEC 62321-2:2021 provides strategies of sampling along with the mechanical preparation of samples from electrotechnical products. These samples can be used for analytical testing to determine the levels of certain substances as described in the test methods in other parts of the IEC 62321 series. Restrictions for substances will vary between geographic regions and can be updated on a regular basis. This document describes a generic process for obtaining and preparing samples prior to the determination of any substance of concern.

This document does not provide:

• Full guidance on each and every product that could be classified as electrotechnical product. Since there is a huge variety of electrotechnical parts, with various structures and compositions, along with the continuous innovations in the industry, it is unrealistic to attempt to provide procedures for the disjointment of every type of part;
• Guidance regarding other routes to gather additional information on certain substances in a product, although the information collected has relevance to the sampling strategies in this document;
• Safe disassembly and mechanical disjointment instructions related to electrotechnical products (e.g. mercury-containing switches) and the recycling industry (e.g. how to handle CRTs or the safe removal of batteries). See IEC 62554 for the disjointment and mechanical sample preparation of mercury-containing fluorescent lamps;
• Sampling procedures for packaging and packaging materials;
• Analytical procedures to measure the levels of certain substances. This is covered by other standards (e.g. other parts of the IEC 62321 series), which are referred to as "test standards" in this document;
• Guidelines for assessment of compliance.

This document has the status of a horizontal standard in accordance with IEC Guide 108.

IEC 62321-2:2021 cancels and replaces the first edition published in 2013. This edition constitutes a technical revision.

This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous edition:

• a) Reference to the IEC 62321 series instead of to a list of individual parts of the IEC 62321 series.
• b) Update of the flow chart in Figure 1. Restructure of Clause 4 and update of examples in Annex A.
• c) Adjustment of the risk levels of certain parts and materials to reflect the recent technology development and material change. Update of Table B.1 to include the risk levels of phthalates. Creation of Table B.2 for other substances (e.g. HBCDD, PAH) in polymeric materials.