Underwriters Laboratories conducts a public seminar on IEC 61439 in partnership with DCRP

The event had notable attendance by the regulators in Oman. Representatives from Mazoon Electricity Company (MZEC), Majan Electricity Company (MAJANCO), Muscat Electricity Distribution Company (MEDC), Rural Areas Electricity Company (RAECO), Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) & the Ministry of Defence Engineering Services (MoDES) along with major manufacturers were among the delegates who also attended.

The keynote speaker for the event was Mr. Dirk Mueller from UL's Germany Office. Mr. Mueller, a participant in German, US & International (IEC) standardization committees shared his valuable experiences with Mr. Sulaiman AL-Balushi acting on behalf of the DCRP committee for Switchgear. The session focused on the requirements of the new IEC standard for Low Voltage Switchgear - IEC 61439, first published in 2009 and effectively scheduled to replace the older standard IEC 60439 completely by 2014.

Utilities in the Middle East region have been increasingly looking to changeover their specifications to the latest requirements. UL with its rich history of standard development in North American ANSI committees and active participation in several IEC committees has been working closely with many utilities in facilitating these technical interpretations. UL also has local presence with its office in Dubai, UAE which started operations in April 2011.

The event also marked the formal offering of UL's Certification & Testing services in the Sultanate of Oman to DCRP & other local specifications based on IEC standards (UL Classification) through its ISO 17025 network laboratory in Bonn, Germany.

This forum brought the opportunity of local panel builders and Utilities to debate on a common platform on specifications pertaining to the Industry in Oman for products like Feeder Pillars and environmental conditions to be considered for local TYPE TEST requirements.