IEC 61000-3-2 and 3-3: harmonic classes and flicker limits

Hugues Orgitello updated 7 Oct 2026 15 min read

IEC 61000-3-2 limits the harmonic currents that equipment rated up to 16 A per phase injects into the public low-voltage network, order by order from 2 to 40, through four classes A, B, C and D. IEC 61000-3-3 limits the voltage changes and flicker the same kind of equipment produces across a reference impedance: Pst 1.0, Plt 0.65, dc 3.3 %, dmax 4 % (6 % or 7 % under conditions) and no more than 500 ms above 3.3 %. Under Directive 2014/30/EU (EMC) the presumption of conformity still comes from EN 61000-3-2:2014 and EN 61000-3-3:2013, not from the later editions. This page gives the editions with their dates, the classification and the limit tables value by value, the flicker limits and test circuit, and the claims the texts contradict.

TL;DR:

• Classes (clause 5.1 of the 2018 edition): B is portable tools and non-professional arc welders, C is lighting, D is PCs, PC monitors, TV receivers and refrigerators or freezers with variable-speed compressor drives, up to 600 W. Everything else is A.
• Class A limits run from 2.30 A at order 3 to 0.15 x 15/n A for odd orders 15 to 39. Class B is Class A times 1.5. Class C above 25 W and Class D are relative limits (percent of fundamental, mA per watt).
• IEC 61000-3-3 clause 5: Pst 1.0 (10 min), Plt 0.65 (2 h), dc 3.3 %, dmax 4 / 6 / 7 %, d(t) above 3.3 % for no more than 500 ms.
• Reference impedance: 0.24 ohm + j0.15 ohm in the phase, 0.16 ohm + j0.10 ohm in the neutral, at 50 Hz.
• EU presumption: EN 61000-3-2:2014 and EN 61000-3-3:2013. No decision on EMC harmonised standards has been adopted since 9 June 2022.

Editions and status, dated

Publication	Edition	Date	Status on 7 October 2026
IEC 61000-3-2	5.0	January 2018	Current base edition
IEC 61000-3-2 AMD1		July 2020	Interpretation sheet 1 to AMD1 in August 2021
IEC 61000-3-2 AMD2	5.2 consolidated	4 March 2024	Current consolidated version; interpretation sheet 1 to AMD2 on 3 April 2025
IEC 61000-3-3	3.0	May 2013	Current base edition
IEC 61000-3-3 AMD1	3.1 consolidated	18 May 2017	Replaced by 3.2
IEC 61000-3-3 AMD2	3.2 consolidated	25 March 2021	Current; corrigendum of January 2022, interpretation sheet 1 of April 2025
IEC 61000-3-12	2.1 consolidated (2011 + AMD1:2021)	4 June 2021	Current
IEC 61000-3-11	2017 edition	2017	Current
IEC 61000-4-7	2.1 consolidated (2002 + AMD1:2008)	28 October 2009	Current measurement method for harmonics
IEC 61000-4-15	2.0	24 August 2010	Current flicker meter specification
IEC TR 60725	3.0	2012	Current technical report on reference impedances

EN reference cited under Directive 2014/30/EU	Corresponding IEC text	First OJ publication
EN 61000-3-2:2014	IEC 61000-3-2:2014 (edition 4)	OJ C 173, 13 May 2016
EN 61000-3-3:2013	IEC 61000-3-3:2013 (edition 3, no amendments)	OJ C 173, 13 May 2016
EN 61000-3-11:2000	IEC 61000-3-11:2000	OJ C 173, 13 May 2016
EN 61000-3-12:2011	IEC 61000-3-12:2011	OJ C 173, 13 May 2016

The four references are repeated in Commission communication 2018/C 246/01. Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1326 and its five amendments (the last being 2022/910 of 9 June 2022) did not add a later edition of any of them. The Commission summary list generated on 19 September 2022 shows the same four references, and no further decision on EMC harmonised standards has been published since.

Which standard applies

Phenomenon	Up to 16 A per phase	Above 16 A
Harmonic currents	IEC 61000-3-2 (rated input current up to and including 16 A per phase)	IEC 61000-3-12 (above 16 A and up to 75 A per phase, up to 240 V single-phase or 690 V three-phase, 50 Hz or 60 Hz)
Voltage changes and flicker	IEC 61000-3-3 (input current up to 16 A per phase, 220 V to 250 V line to neutral, 50 Hz, not subject to conditional connection)	IEC 61000-3-11 (rated current up to 75 A, subject to conditional connection)

Two scope details matter in practice. Edition 5 of IEC 61000-3-2 changed the scope from "input current" to "rated input current", for consistency with IEC 61000-3-12. Interpretation sheet 1 to IEC 61000-3-3 (April 2025) settles which flicker standard applies when a nameplate shows several currents, as on heat pumps rated under ISO 5151: if the largest input current that can flow continuously exceeds 16 A, IEC 61000-3-11 applies and not IEC 61000-3-3.

IEC 61000-3-3 also lets equipment that fails its limits with the reference impedance be retested or evaluated against IEC 61000-3-11, which covers conditional connection.

IEC 61000-3-2: classification

Clause 5.1 of IEC 61000-3-2:2018 classifies equipment as follows.

Class	Equipment (clause 5.1, edition 5)
A	Anything not in B, C or D. Examples given: balanced three-phase equipment, household appliances not in B, C or D, vacuum cleaners, high pressure cleaners, tools other than portable tools, independent phase control dimmers, audio equipment, professional luminaires for stage lighting and studios
B	Portable tools; arc welding equipment which is not professional equipment
C	Lighting equipment
D	Equipment with a specified power of 600 W or less of these types: personal computers and PC monitors, television receivers, refrigerators and freezers with one or more variable-speed drives for the compressor motor

Clause 5.2 says what counts as lighting. It includes lamps and luminaires, the lighting part of multi-function equipment whose primary function includes illumination, independent control gear, UV and IR radiation equipment, illuminated advertising signs, non-phase-control dimmers and DLT control devices. It excludes lamps built into equipment with another primary purpose (photocopiers, projectors), household appliances that merely contain a lamp (a range hood), independent phase control dimmers, professional stage and studio luminaires and emergency luminaires that emit light only in emergency mode.

Class D is a closed list. A switched-mode supply in a product that is not on that list is Class A, whatever its current waveform looks like. The refrigerator and freezer entry was introduced with EN 61000-3-2:2014, the edition cited in the Official Journal.

Where no limits apply

The 2005 text, still readable in full as IS 14700 (Part 3/Sec 2), lists in clause 7 the categories without limits: equipment with a rated power of 75 W or less other than lighting equipment, professional equipment with a total rated power above 1 kW, symmetrically controlled heating elements of 200 W or less and independent dimmers for incandescent lamps of 1 kW or less. Edition 5 places the categories without limits in clause 7.1 and adds a 5 W threshold below which no emission limit applies to any lighting equipment. The control method restrictions of clause 6.2 (half-wave rectification and asymmetrical control only for detecting unsafe conditions, for 100 W or less, or for short-use portable equipment with a two-core cord) apply even to equipment that has no harmonic limit.

Limit tables, value by value

The values below are Tables 1, 2 and 3 of IEC 61000-3-2:2005, published identically by BIS. The 2018 edition keeps three tables with the same structure; Amendment 2 (2024) states that a Class D product must stay below the lower of the middle column (mA per watt times the measured power) and the right column (amperes). The Class B column is computed by applying the factor 1.5 of clause 7.2 to Class A.

Order n	Class A (A)	Class B (A, = A x 1.5)	Class C above 25 W (% of fundamental)	Class D (mA/W)	Class D cap (A)
2	1.08	1.62	2
3	2.30	3.45	30 x power factor	3.4	2.30
4	0.43	0.645
5	1.14	1.71	10	1.9	1.14
6	0.30	0.45
7	0.77	1.155	7	1.0	0.77
8 to 40 (even)	0.23 x 8/n	0.345 x 8/n
9	0.40	0.60	5	0.5	0.40
11	0.33	0.495	3	0.35	0.33
13	0.21	0.315	3	3.85/13	0.21
15 to 39 (odd)	0.15 x 15/n	0.225 x 15/n	3	3.85/n	0.15 x 15/n

Three things follow from the tables. Class A and B are absolute, so a 100 W product and a 2 kW product face the same amperes. Class D scales with power, so a low-power PC or TV gets proportionally lower limits than a Class A product. Class C above 25 W is relative to the fundamental, with the third-harmonic limit tied to the circuit power factor.

Lighting from 5 W to 25 W

Clause 7.4.3 of edition 5 covers lighting with a rated power of 5 W to 25 W and offers more than one set of requirements. The second set, quoted in interpretation sheet 1 to Amendment 1, is a waveform test: the input current reaches the 5 % current threshold at or before 60 degrees, has its peak value at or before 65 degrees and does not fall below the 5 % threshold before 90 degrees, referenced to any zero crossing of the supply voltage. In the 2005 text, discharge lighting of 25 W or less could either meet the Class D power-related limits or pass a similar waveform test combined with a third harmonic of no more than 86 % and a fifth of no more than 61 % of the fundamental. Interpretation sheet 1 (August 2021) and Amendment 2 add that when an IEC 61000-4-7 analyser does not remove components above 9 kHz, an oscilloscope measurement with those components removed prevails for the phase angles.

Measurement

IEC 61000-4-7 (clause 4.4.1) requires a window of 10 fundamental periods at 50 Hz or 12 at 60 Hz, with rectangular weighting, for full compliance: about 200 ms. Since Amendment 2 of IEC 61000-3-2:

• harmonic currents below 0.6 % of the input current or below 5 mA, whichever is greater, are disregarded, but only when individual harmonics are compared with limits (6.3.3.4);
• repeatability should be better than plus or minus (5 % of the limit + 1 mA) for orders up to 11, and (10 % + 1 mA) above, but it is a recommendation, not a pass or fail criterion (6.3.3.1);
• with a class I instrument, results are compared directly with the limits, without adding measurement uncertainty (8.2.1, simple acceptance per IEC Guide 115:2023).

IEC 61000-3-3: voltage changes and flicker

Limits (clause 5)

Quantity	Definition	Limit
Pst	Short-term flicker, observation period 10 min	1.0 or less
Plt	Long-term flicker, 2 h, from N = 12 Pst values	0.65 or less
dc	Maximum steady-state relative voltage change	3.3 % or less
dmax	Maximum relative voltage change	4 % without conditions; 6 % for equipment switched manually, or switched automatically more than twice a day with delayed or manual restart after a supply interruption; 7 % for equipment attended while in use, or switched on no more than twice a day with delayed or manual restart
Tmax	Time d(t) stays above the dc limit during one voltage change	d(t) not above 3.3 % for more than 500 ms

The limit values are those of the 2005 text (IS 14700 Part 3/Sec 3). Edition 3 keeps the same quantities: its definitions 3.2 to 3.5 define d(t), dc, dmax and Tmax by reference to IEC 61000-4-15:2010, and Tmax is "the maximum time duration during the observation period that the voltage deviation d(t) exceeds the limit for dc", accumulated until a new steady state is reached.

Pst and Plt requirements are not applied to voltage changes caused by manual switching, and no limit applies to emergency switching. Plt generally needs assessing only for equipment normally operated for more than 30 minutes at a time. In the 2005 text, equipment is deemed to comply for manual switching without further testing when the r.m.s. current over each half period, inrush included, stays at or below 20 A and the current after inrush varies within 1.5 A.

Product-specific conditions (Annex A, 2005 text)

Equipment	What Annex A says
Domestic cookers	Plt not required; each heater tested separately
Lighting	Pst and Plt only for lighting likely to flicker (disco lighting, automatically regulated equipment); no limits for lamps; incandescent luminaires up to 1000 W and discharge luminaires up to 600 W deemed to comply with dmax
Washing machines, tumble dryers	Pst and Plt evaluated
Refrigerators	Pst and Plt not evaluated; measurement after steady state
Vacuum cleaners, food mixers	Pst and Plt not evaluated
Portable tools	Plt not evaluated; Pst only for tools with heating elements
Hand-held hair dryers	Plt not evaluated
Consumer electronics	Only dmax measured

The corrigendum of January 2022 to edition 3.2 exists because a layout error in Amendment 2 made "Plt shall not be evaluated" look as if it applied to part of clause A.16 only; it applies to all equipment in A.16.

Reference impedance and supply

Figure 1 of IEC 61000-3-3 places a reference impedance between the voltage generator and the equipment under test: phase 0.24 ohm resistance and 0.15 ohm reactance at 50 Hz, neutral 0.16 ohm and 0.10 ohm. The values include the generator impedance. For a single-phase load, the loop is 0.40 ohm plus 0.25 ohm reactance (about 0.8 mH). For balanced three-phase loads the neutral elements can be neglected. IEC TR 60725 (third edition, 2012) records the background on these reference impedances and on real public network impedances.

The limits are based on the subjective severity of flicker on the light of 230 V 60 W coiled-coil filament lamps (NOTE 2 to the scope). The flicker meter is specified in IEC 61000-4-15:2010; its test specifications include, for example, an 8.8 Hz modulation.

3-2 and 3-3 in the EU technical file

Directive 2014/30/EU, Article 13, gives a presumption of conformity with the essential requirements of Annex I to equipment that meets harmonised standards whose references are published in the Official Journal. For mains harmonics and flicker those references are EN 61000-3-2:2014 and EN 61000-3-3:2013. A manufacturer can test to EN IEC 61000-3-2:2019 with its amendments, but the technical file must then justify why that edition meets the essential requirements, because the presumption attaches only to the cited edition.

For radio equipment the EMC requirement is in Article 3(1)(b) of Directive 2014/53/EU; see RED testing for the radio side. See CE testing for how mains tests fit into the full sequence, next to conducted emissions at the LISN and the CISPR emission standards.

A typical file for a mains product contains:

1. The declared IEC 61000-3-2 class with the clause 5.1 reasoning (for example "PC monitor, Class D", or "Class A, not on the Class D list").
2. The harmonic test report with the edition used, the observation period and the operating mode, or the clause 7.1 ground for having no limit (for example lighting below 5 W).
3. The flicker test report with Pst, Plt, dc, dmax and Tmax, the Annex A conditions used, and the dmax category (4, 6 or 7 %) claimed with the switching and restart behaviour that justifies it.
4. The reference to the cited EN editions, or the justification for a newer one.

Design notes for a compliant mains product

A capacitor-input rectifier draws current in short peaks near the voltage crest, which produces mainly odd harmonics. For Class A products the absolute limits leave room at low power, and the 2005 text sets no limit for non-lighting equipment of 75 W or less. For Class D products the limits scale with power in mA per watt, and active power factor correction is a common way to meet them. For flicker, edition 3 notes that the Tmax evaluation is generally intended to assess the inrush current pattern of the equipment; an NTC thermistor or a bypassed soft-start limits inrush. Heaters controlled by on-off cycling drive Pst and Plt, which the standard evaluates over 10 minutes and 2 hours.

Claims the texts contradict

Common claim (including on earlier versions of this page)	What the text says
Class D is any product from 75 W to 600 W with a "special waveform" checked against an envelope	Clause 5.1 lists PCs, PC monitors, TV receivers and refrigerators or freezers with variable-speed compressor drives, of 600 W or less. There is no envelope test; other products are Class A
The latest IEC edition (2018 + A1 + A2) is harmonised under the EMC Directive	The cited references are EN 61000-3-2:2014 and EN 61000-3-3:2013 (OJ C 173, 13 May 2016; communication 2018/C 246/01); no later edition has been cited
IEC 61000-3-3 sets dc at 3.3 % in steady state and "4 % momentary"	dc (steady state) is 3.3 %. The 4 % limit is dmax, which rises to 6 % or 7 % for equipment meeting the switching and restart conditions
Tmax is the time "dc" stays above 3.3 %	Tmax is the time d(t) exceeds the dc limit during one voltage change; the limit is 500 ms
The limits are in "table 1" and "clause 5.2" of IEC 61000-3-3	The limits are in clause 5; Table 1 of edition 3 is the assessment method table
The flicker exemption is in clause 6.2 of IEC 61000-3-3	In the 2005 text the "unlikely to produce significant voltage fluctuations" rule is in 6.1; in edition 3, 6.2 is measurement uncertainty
Zref is in "IEC 60725:2020"	IEC TR 60725 is a technical report, edition 3.0 of 2012; the test impedance itself is in Figure 1 of IEC 61000-3-3
Low-power LED luminaires up to 25 W are bounded on third harmonic, phase angle and power factor	Clause 7.4.3 (5 W to 25 W) offers alternative sets of requirements, one of which is a phase-angle waveform test; below 5 W no limits apply to lighting
Above 75 A, IEC 61000-3-14 is the evaluation route	IEC 61000-3-12 and 61000-3-11 stop at 75 A. Nothing in the texts reviewed here assigns equipment above 75 A to a named standard
A lab socket is "two to five times" lower in impedance than Zref	No such figure is in the standards; the point is only that measurements without the reference impedance are not comparable

Pitfalls

1. Wrong class. A PC monitor, a TV or a variable-speed refrigerator declared Class A is tested against the wrong table. The reverse error is a product with a switched-mode supply placed in Class D although it is not on the list.
2. Edition mismatch. A report to the 2019 EN edition with no reference to EN 61000-3-2:2014 does not by itself give presumption under the EMC Directive.
3. Wrong dmax category. Claiming 6 % or 7 % without documenting manual switching, attended use, or delayed or manual restart after a supply interruption.
4. No reference impedance. Flicker measured on the lab mains is not comparable with the limits; the standard circuit uses the impedance of Figure 1.
5. Lighting below 25 W. Using the 2005 text for lighting: edition 5 rewrote 7.4.3 and added the 5 W threshold.

Key takeaways

• IEC 61000-3-2 classes are a product list in clause 5.1: B portable tools, C lighting, D PCs, monitors, TVs and variable-speed refrigerators up to 600 W, A everything else.
• Class A limits are absolute amperes (2.30 A at order 3), Class B is 1.5 times Class A, Class D is 3.4 mA/W at order 3 capped by the Class A ampere value.
• IEC 61000-3-3 limits: Pst 1.0, Plt 0.65, dc 3.3 %, dmax 4 / 6 / 7 %, d(t) above 3.3 % for at most 500 ms.
• Reference impedance: 0.24 + j0.15 ohm (phase) and 0.16 + j0.10 ohm (neutral) at 50 Hz.
• EU presumption still comes from EN 61000-3-2:2014 and EN 61000-3-3:2013.

For the definitions of terms used here, see the Glossary. For the conducted emissions measurement associated with the mains filter, see conducted emissions at the LISN. For documentation pitfalls on the file side, see CE pitfalls. IEC publications are referenced by edition throughout.

See also

• EMC Directive 2014/30/EU
• Voltage dips and interruptions: IEC 61000-4-11
• Radiated emissions EMC test: pre-scan and final scan
• HEMP and IEMI: IEC 61000-4-25 and hardened electronics
• SAR procedures: absorption rate (IEC 62209, EN 50360)
• IEC 61000-4-3: radiated RF field immunity

Working on PFC and soft-start sizing for a mains-powered product for a real product? AESTECHNO can audit your design and certification plan. Get in touch

Sources & references

1. IEC 61000-3-2:2018+AMD1:2020+AMD2:2024 CSV (Edition 5.2, 4 March 2024), limits for harmonic current emissions, IEC webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/92799
2. IEC 61000-3-2:2018 (Edition 5.0) preview, clauses 1 to 6.2 including the classification in 5.1 (hosted by iTeh), IEC (preview hosted by iTeh Standards) cdn.standards.iteh.ai/samples/22247/bdec75030c3c4f82af83aa4fb86bb1d8/IEC-61000-3-2-2018.pdf
3. IEC 61000-3-2:2018/AMD2:2024 preview, amended clauses 6.3, 7.4.3, 7.5 and 8 (hosted by iTeh), IEC (preview hosted by iTeh Standards) cdn.standards.iteh.ai/samples/112099/13ba703a8827484887afacbc4d22ad44/IEC-61000-3-2-2018-AMD2-2024.pdf
4. IEC 61000-3-3:2013+AMD1:2017+AMD2:2021 CSV (Edition 3.2, 25 March 2021), with corrigendum 2022 and interpretation sheet 1 (April 2025), IEC webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/68776
5. IS 14700 (Part 3/Sec 2):2008, identical to IEC 61000-3-2:2005, full text with Tables 1 to 3, Bureau of Indian Standards (via Public.Resource.Org) law.resource.org/pub/in/bis/S04/is.14700.3.2.2008.pdf
6. IS 14700 (Part 3/Sec 3):2008, identical to IEC 61000-3-3:2005, full text with clause 5 limits and Annex A, Bureau of Indian Standards (via Public.Resource.Org) law.resource.org/pub/in/bis/S04/is.14700.3.3.2008.pdf
7. IS 14700 (Part 4/Sec 7):2006, identical to IEC 61000-4-7:2002, full text, Bureau of Indian Standards (via Public.Resource.Org) law.resource.org/pub/in/bis/S04/is.14700.4.7.2006.pdf
8. IEC 61000-3-12:2011+AMD1:2021 CSV (Edition 2.1, 4 June 2021), harmonic currents above 16 A and up to 75 A per phase, IEC webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/69084
9. IEC 61000-3 series pack (lists IEC 61000-3-11:2017 and the current parts), IEC webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/62426
10. IEC 61000-4-7:2002+AMD1:2008 CSV (Edition 2.1), harmonics and interharmonics measurement, IEC webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/4228
11. IEC 61000-4-15:2010 (Edition 2.0, 24 August 2010), flicker meter, IEC webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/4173
12. IEC TR 60725:2012 (Edition 3.0) preview, reference impedances and public supply network impedances, IEC (preview hosted by VDE Verlag) www.vde-verlag.de/iec-normen/preview-pdf/info_iectr60725{ed3.0}b.pdf
13. DIN EN 61000-3-2:2015-03 (EN 61000-3-2:2014), summary of changes including refrigerators with variable drive in Class D, DIN Media www.dinmedia.de/en/standard/din-en-61000-3-2/227310346
14. Commission communication 2018/C 246/01, references of harmonised standards under Directive 2014/30/EU, EUR-Lex eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52018XC0713(02)
15. Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1326 on harmonised standards for electromagnetic compatibility, EUR-Lex eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2019/1326/oj
16. Summary list of harmonised standards under Directive 2014/30/EU (generated 19 September 2022), European Commission single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/document/download/f23cb8f0-9145-49f2-8279-db54040f80cc_en?filename=2014_30_EU_EMC_Summary%20list%20of%20harmonised%20standards_Generated%20on%2019.9.2022.pdf
17. Directive 2014/30/EU on electromagnetic compatibility, EUR-Lex eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2014/30/oj