IEC 60945, Maritime navigation and radiocommunication equipment and systems, General requirements, Methods of testing and required test results, is the common test standard for environment, EMC, safety and ergonomics of bridge electronics. The edition in use is the fourth, IEC 60945:2002 with Corrigendum 1:2008; it is the version cited by the current EU marine equipment list, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1434. Each equipment type also has its own performance standard (IEC 61108 for GNSS receivers, IEC 61993-2 for AIS, and so on).

Does IEC 60945 have a Class A and a Class B?

No. IEC 60945 sorts equipment into four categories by where it is installed: portable, protected from the weather, exposed to the weather, and submerged or in continuous contact with sea water. The category decides which tests apply: rain and solar radiation for exposed equipment, drop and thermal shock for portable equipment, immersion for submerged equipment. "Class A / Class B" schemes belong to other documents, such as classification society type approval rules.

Which conformity assessment modules does the MED allow?

Article 15 of Directive 2014/90/EU allows EU type-examination (module B) followed by production quality assurance (D), product quality assurance (E) or product verification (F), or unit verification (module G) for items produced individually or in small numbers. The implementing regulation lists, for each item, which of B+D, B+E, B+F and G may be used; module H is not among the MED options.

How must the wheel mark be applied?

Visibly, legibly and indelibly on the product or its data plate, and where relevant embedded in its software; on the packaging and documents only if the product does not allow it. It is affixed at the end of production, followed by the number of the notified body involved in production control and the year of affixing (Article 10). Article 11 allows an electronic tag instead of or in addition to the wheel mark for designated items.

Is the current MED list from 2025?

No. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1434 of 30 June 2026, published on 22 July 2026, repealed Regulation (EU) 2025/1533 and entered into force on the fortieth day after publication, 31 August 2026. It keeps the transition for items added in 2024 and 2025: national type approvals may continue to be used until 4 September 2027 and 23 September 2028 respectively.

Can one approval serve both the EU and the US?

For some equipment. Under the EU-US mutual recognition agreement on marine equipment, in force since 1 July 2004, an EU notified body can approve equipment listed in the agreement for both markets: the product then carries the wheel mark and a USCG approval number allocated by that notified body. Equipment not covered by the agreement needs a separate US Coast Guard approval, and US radio equipment also needs FCC authorisation.

IEC 60945 maritime testing: categories, EMC, wheel mark

Hugues Orgitello updated 7 Oct 2026 8 min read

IEC 60945 is cited about 150 times in the EU's current marine equipment list, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1434, which entered into force on 31 August 2026. Almost every radar, AIS, GNSS receiver, VHF radio and bridge display sold for EU-flagged ships is tested against it, together with its own performance standard. Yet much of what is written about it is wrong: it has no Class A and Class B, the Marine Equipment Directive does not offer module H, and the edition cited by the regulators is still the 2002 one. This guide sets out what the standard and the directive actually say: the four installation categories and the tests each one triggers, how an item appears in the 2026 list, the wheel mark rules, and the routes to the US and UK markets.

TL;DR:

IEC 60945:2002 with Corrigendum 1:2008 is the edition cited by the MED list in force since 31 August 2026.
Four categories, not two classes: portable, protected, exposed, submerged. The category selects the tests.
MED routes: module B followed by D, E or F, or module G. No module H.
Wheel mark on the product or data plate (or in its software), followed by the notified body number and the year.
US: the 2004 EU-US mutual recognition agreement lets an EU notified body issue a USCG approval number for listed equipment; other equipment needs its own USCG approval.

What the standard covers

IEC 60945 gives the general requirements and test methods shared by maritime navigation and radiocommunication equipment: environmental durability, EMC, safety, acoustic noise, compass safe distance, ergonomics and software behaviour. It traces back to IEC 945, written for the IMO general requirements for navigation aids, which were later merged into IMO Resolution A.694(17) on general requirements for shipborne radio and navigation equipment. The fourth edition (2002) extended the EMC frequency range from 1 GHz to 2 GHz and expanded operational tests for menu-driven equipment.

It never stands alone. Each equipment type has a performance standard, and the MED list cites both. For an AIS, for example, item MED/4.32 cites IEC 60945:2002 with Corrigendum 1:2008, the IEC 61162 interface series, IEC 61993-2 (AIS performance), IEC 62288 (display) and IEC 62923-1 and -2 (bridge alert management), with modules B+D, B+E, B+F or G.

Four installation categories

Category	Typical equipment	Tests that depend on the category
Portable	Handheld VHF, EPIRB, SART	Drop, drop into water, thermal shock, low temperature storage, immersion
Protected from the weather	Bridge consoles, displays, ECDIS, radios inside	Dry heat, damp heat, low temperature in operation, vibration, corrosion
Exposed to the weather	Antennas, deck sensors, external units	Rain and spray, solar radiation, extended temperature range, corrosion
Submerged	Transducers in continuous contact with sea water	Immersion, corrosion

The manufacturer declares the category; the test report covers that category. A unit tested as "protected" and then mounted on the open deck is outside what was tested.

The tests

The descriptions below follow the published test summaries; exact durations, levels and pass criteria are in the standard.

Family	Test	Notes
Dry heat	Storage at +70 °C (portable, exposed, submerged); operation at +55 °C (portable, protected, exposed)	+55 °C combines a +32 °C maximum sea air temperature and +23 °C solar gain
Damp heat	One cycle up to +40 °C at high relative humidity, in operation	Portable, protected, exposed
Low temperature	Storage (portable) and functional operation	Start-up at low ambient temperature
Thermal shock	Portable equipment, from high-temperature storage into water
Drop	Onto a hard deck (portable VHF radios); into water from 20 m for equipment meant to be deployed that way
Vibration	Simulates hull vibration from propeller and machinery, predominantly vertical, generally at frequencies up to about 13 Hz	All categories
Rain and spray, immersion	Exposed equipment (rain); portable and submerged equipment (immersion)
Solar radiation, oil resistance	Exposed equipment; equipment exposed to oil
Corrosion (salt mist)	All categories, cyclic
EMC emissions	Conducted and radiated, enclosure and ports	Frequency range up to 2 GHz since the fourth edition
EMC immunity	Electrostatic discharge (6 kV contact, 8 kV air), radiated and conducted RF, fast transients, surge, power supply variations and failures
Other	Acoustic noise (a limit applies to equipment on the bridge), compass safe distance, protection against dangerous voltages

Two practical notes. Some MED items exclude the IEC 60945 EMC tests and replace them with the tests of their own IMO resolution: position-indicating lights for life-saving appliances (MED/1.2a), for example, follow IMO Resolution MSC.81(70) clause 10.4 instead. And the compass safe distance result ends up on the installation drawings, so it is worth measuring early.

The Marine Equipment Directive

Rule	Text
Scope	Equipment placed on board EU ships and required by the international conventions (SOLAS and others)
Item list	Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1434, in force 31 August 2026, repealing (EU) 2025/1533
Transition	Items added in 2024 and 2025 may still use national type approvals until 4 September 2027 and 23 September 2028
Routes	Module B followed by D, E or F; or module G for individual or small-quantity production (Article 15)
Marking	Wheel mark on the product or data plate, embedded in software where relevant; packaging and documents only if not possible; followed by the notified body number (production phase) and year (Articles 9 and 10)
Electronic tag	Allowed instead of or in addition to the wheel mark for designated items (Article 11)

The wheel mark follows the general principles of the CE marking in Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, read as references to the wheel mark (Article 9(4)), and may not be affixed to any other product. Marine equipment within the scope of the MED is excluded from the Radio Equipment Directive (RED, Annex I, point 2, which still names the predecessor Directive 96/98/EC), so a marine VHF covered by the MED is approved under the MED, not the RED.

US, UK and class societies

Route	Mark or certificate	Notes
EU-US MRA (since 1 July 2004)	Wheel mark plus USCG approval number	For equipment listed in the agreement; the EU notified body that did the assessment allocates the USCG number
USCG approval	USCG approval number	For equipment outside the MRA; radio equipment also needs FCC authorisation
UK	Red Ensign mark	UK conformity assessment for UK ships since leaving the EU
Class society type approval (DNV, Lloyd's Register, BV, ABS, ClassNK and others)	Type approval certificate	Often required by owners and yards in addition to flag approval

See certification timeline for sequencing a multi-market project.

Relation to IEC 60533: equipment vs installation

IEC 60533 ("Electrical and electronic installations in ships, Electromagnetic compatibility") is the other structural standard in the maritime EMC domain. The distinction with IEC 60945 is clear:

IEC 60945 is an equipment standard: it applies to an individual product, assessed in isolation in a laboratory, and conditions its placing on the market or its type approval.
IEC 60533 is an installation and system standard: it applies to the ship's general electrical installation, its cabling, switchboards, earthing, routing, and conditions the acceptance of the installation by the class society or the maritime authority.

Equipment compliant with IEC 60945 may still cause excessive disturbance once installed if the general installation violates IEC 60533 (power cables routed alongside signal cables, multiple ground points creating loops, poorly terminated shields). Conversely, an impeccable installation in the IEC 60533 sense will not rescue equipment that has failed the IEC 60945 tests. The two standards are complementary: the first guarantees the intrinsic quality of the delivered product, the second guarantees that the on-board integration does not degrade the individual performance.

From the equipment manufacturer's standpoint, the direct perimeter is IEC 60945. Knowledge of IEC 60533 is useful in drafting installation documentation (routing, shielding, bonding recommendations) that helps the integrator respect the installation standard without degrading product compliance.

IEC 61162: maritime digital interfaces

The IEC 61162 family specifies digital interfaces between bridge equipment. It is cited alongside IEC 60945 in almost every MED implementing regulation, because modern navigation equipment exchanges data continuously (heading, position, speed, alarms).

Part	Topic	Industrial equivalent
IEC 61162-1	Low-speed single-listener serial interface (typically 4800 baud)	Aligned with NMEA 0183
IEC 61162-2	High-speed serial interface (typically 38400 baud)	High-speed extension of NMEA 0183
IEC 61162-3	CAN bus for bridge networks	Aligned with NMEA 2000
IEC 61162-450	Maritime Ethernet, UDP multicast	Modern bridge-integration standard
IEC 61162-460	Secure maritime Ethernet	450 + cybersecurity and redundancy requirements

For the manufacturer, the articulation is clear: IEC 60945 specifies the requirements applicable to the connector, cable and electrical layer of the interface port (EMC immunity, ingress protection, temperature range). IEC 61162 specifies the protocol, the application sentences and the transport layers. Both levels must be met together. A non-conformity with IEC 61162 (incorrect sentence formatting, wrong baud rate) does not translate into a failure of the IEC 60945 tests; it translates into a refusal of interoperability with the other bridge equipment at integration or at the audit of the integrated system.

Claims the texts contradict

Common claim	What the text says
"IEC 60945 has Class A (protected) and Class B (exposed)"	It has four categories: portable, protected, exposed, submerged
"MED modules B + D/E/F/G/H"	Article 15 offers B+D, B+E, B+F or G; no H
"The current MED list is Regulation (EU) 2025/1533"	Repealed by Regulation (EU) 2026/1434, in force 31 August 2026
"The wheel mark must be on the product"	On the product or its data plate, embedded in software where relevant, or on packaging and documents when that is not possible
"A product needs separate EU and US approvals"	Not for equipment covered by the 2004 EU-US MRA
"IEC 60945 EMC tests apply to every MED item"	Some items exclude them and use their own IMO test clauses

Common pitfalls

Wrong category. A display tested as protected cannot be mounted outdoors under the same approval.
Late corrosion design. Salt mist reveals connectors, fasteners and coatings that dry climatic tests do not.
Generic industrial EMC design. Equipment designed only to the generic industrial immunity standard may not pass the IEC 60945 tests.
Forgetting the interfaces. The MED list cites the IEC 61162 parts with dated editions; test against those.
Assuming the RED applies. MED marine equipment is outside the RED.
Ignoring the list's dates. Check the column with the date from which each standard edition applies and the end of any transition.

Frequently asked questions

What is IEC 60945?: IEC 60945, Maritime navigation and radiocommunication equipment and systems, General requirements, Methods of testing and required test results, is the common test standard for environment, EMC, safety and ergonomics of bridge electronics. The edition in use is the fourth, IEC 60945:2002 with Corrigendum 1:2008; it is the version cited by the current EU marine equipment list, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1434. Each equipment type also has its own performance standard (IEC 61108 for GNSS receivers, IEC 61993-2 for AIS, and so on).
Does IEC 60945 have a Class A and a Class B?: No. IEC 60945 sorts equipment into four categories by where it is installed: portable, protected from the weather, exposed to the weather, and submerged or in continuous contact with sea water. The category decides which tests apply: rain and solar radiation for exposed equipment, drop and thermal shock for portable equipment, immersion for submerged equipment. "Class A / Class B" schemes belong to other documents, such as classification society type approval rules.
Which conformity assessment modules does the MED allow?: Article 15 of Directive 2014/90/EU allows EU type-examination (module B) followed by production quality assurance (D), product quality assurance (E) or product verification (F), or unit verification (module G) for items produced individually or in small numbers. The implementing regulation lists, for each item, which of B+D, B+E, B+F and G may be used; module H is not among the MED options.
How must the wheel mark be applied?: Visibly, legibly and indelibly on the product or its data plate, and where relevant embedded in its software; on the packaging and documents only if the product does not allow it. It is affixed at the end of production, followed by the number of the notified body involved in production control and the year of affixing (Article 10). Article 11 allows an electronic tag instead of or in addition to the wheel mark for designated items.
Is the current MED list from 2025?: No. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1434 of 30 June 2026, published on 22 July 2026, repealed Regulation (EU) 2025/1533 and entered into force on the fortieth day after publication, 31 August 2026. It keeps the transition for items added in 2024 and 2025: national type approvals may continue to be used until 4 September 2027 and 23 September 2028 respectively.
Can one approval serve both the EU and the US?: For some equipment. Under the EU-US mutual recognition agreement on marine equipment, in force since 1 July 2004, an EU notified body can approve equipment listed in the agreement for both markets: the product then carries the wheel mark and a USCG approval number allocated by that notified body. Equipment not covered by the agreement needs a separate US Coast Guard approval, and US radio equipment also needs FCC authorisation.