SIST EN 60359:2002

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
SIST EN 60359:2002
01-november-2002
1DGRPHãþD
SIST IEC 60359:1995
(OHNWULþQDLQHOHNWURQVNDPHULOQDRSUHPD±,]UDåDQMHODVWQRVWL,(&
Electrical and electronic measurement equipment - Expression of performance
Elektrische und elektronische Messeinrichtungen - Angabe zum Betriebsverhalten
Appareils de mesure électriques et électroniques - Expression des performances
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN 60359:2002
ICS:
17.220.20 0HUMHQMHHOHNWULþQLKLQ Measurement of electrical
PDJQHWQLKYHOLþLQ and magnetic quantities
SIST EN 60359:2002 en
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

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SIST EN 60359:2002

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SIST EN 60359:2002
EUROPEAN STANDARD EN 60359
NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM March 2002
ICS 17.220.20
English version
Electrical and electronic measurement equipment -
Expression of performance
(IEC 60359:2001)
Appareils de mesure électriques Elektrische und elektronische
et électroniques - Messeinrichtungen -
Expression des performances Angabe zum Betriebsverhalten
(CEI 60359:2001) (IEC 60359:2001)
This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 2002-03-01. CENELEC members are bound to
comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European
Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.
Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on
application to the Central Secretariat or to any CENELEC member.
This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other
language made by translation under the responsibility of a CENELEC member into its own language and
notified to the Central Secretariat has the same status as the official versions.
CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
CENELEC
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung
Central Secretariat: rue de Stassart 35, B - 1050 Brussels
© 2002 CENELEC - All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC members.
Ref. No. EN 60359:2002 E

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SIST EN 60359:2002
EN 60359:2002 - 2 -
Foreword
The text of document 85/219/FDIS, future edition 3 of IEC 60359, prepared by IEC TC 85, Measuring
equipment for electrical and electromagnetic quantities, was submitted to the IEC-CENELEC parallel
vote and was approved by CENELEC as EN 60359 on 2002-03-01.
The following dates were fixed:
– latest date by which the EN has to be implemented
at national level by publication of an identical
national standard or by endorsement (dop) 2002-12-01
– latest date by which the national standards conflicting
with the EN have to be withdrawn (dow) 2005-03-01
Annexes designated "normative" are part of the body of the standard.
Annexes designated "informative" are given for information only.
In this standard, annex ZA is normative and annexes A and B are informative.
Annex ZA has been added by CENELEC.
__________
Endorsement notice
The text of the International Standard IEC 60359:2001 was approved by CENELEC as a European
Standard without any modification.
In the official version, for Bibliography, the following notes have to be added for the standards
indicated:
IEC 60051 (Series) NOTE Harmonized as EN 60051 (Series) (not modified).
IEC 60068 (Series) NOTE Harmonized as EN 60068 (Series) (not modified).
IEC 60529 NOTE Harmonized as EN 60529:1991 (not modified).
IEC 60654 (Series) NOTE Harmonized as EN 60654 (Series) (not modified).
IEC 60721-3-0 NOTE Harmonized as HD 478.3.0 S1:1987 (not modified).
IEC 60851-5 NOTE Harmonized as EN 60851-5:1996 (not modified).
__________

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SIST EN 60359:2002
- 3 - EN 60359:2002
Annex ZA
(normative)
Normative references to international publications
with their corresponding European publications
This European Standard incorporates, by dated or undated reference, provisions from other
publications. These normative references are cited at the appropriate places in the text and the
publications are listed hereafter. For dated references, subsequent amendments to or revisions of any
of these publications apply to this European Standard only when incorporated in it by amendment or
revision. For undated references, the latest edition of the publication referred to applies (including
amendments).
NOTE When an international publication has been modified by common modifications, indicated by (mod), the relevant
EN/HD applies.
Publication Year Title EN/HD Year
IEC 60050-300 2001 International Electrotechnical --
Vocabulary - Electrical and electronic
measurements and measuring
instruments
Part 311: General terms relating to
measurements -
Part 312: General terms relating to
electrical measurements -
Part 313: Types of electrical measuring
instruments -
Part 314: Specific terms according to
the type of instrument
ISO/IEC GUIDE 1995 Guide to the expression of uncertainty--
EXPRES in measurement (GUM)

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SIST EN 60359:2002

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SIST EN 60359:2002
NORME CEI
INTERNATIONALE IEC
60359
INTERNATIONAL
Troisième édition
STANDARD
Third edition
2001-12
Appareils de mesure électriques
et électroniques –
Expression des performances
Electrical and electronic measurement
equipment –
Expression of performance
 IEC 2001 Droits de reproduction réservés  Copyright - all rights reserved
Aucune partie de cette publication ne peut être reproduite ni No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in
utilisée sous quelque forme que ce soit et par aucun procédé, any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
électronique ou mécanique, y compris la photocopie et les including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in
microfilms, sans l'accord écrit de l'éditeur. writing from the publisher.
International Electrotechnical Commission 3, rue de Varembé Geneva, Switzerland
Telefax: +41 22 919 0300 e-mail: inmail@iec.ch IEC web site http://www.iec.ch
CODE PRIX
Commission Electrotechnique Internationale
V
PRICE CODE
International Electrotechnical Commission
Pour prix, voir catalogue en vigueur
For price, see current catalogue

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SIST EN 60359:2002
60359 © IEC:2001 – 3 –
CONTENTS
FOREWORD.5
INTRODUCTION.9
1 Scope and object.11
2 Normative references .11
3 Definitions .13
4 Specification of values and ranges .31
5 Requirements for IEC standards related to the equipment .33
6 Specification of limits of uncertainty.33
7 Specification of influence quantities.49
8 General rules for compliance testing.53
Annex A (informative) Conceptual and terminological evolution from "error" to
"uncertainty" .55
Annex B (informative) Steps in the specification of performance .63
Bibliography.67
Figure 1 – Calibration diagram.35
Figure 2 – Calibration diagram with scale marks in units of measurement .37
Figure 3 – Calibration diagram in different operating conditions .41
Figure 4 – Calibration diagram for extended operating conditions .43
Figure B.1 – Steps in the specification of performance.63

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SIST EN 60359:2002
60359 © IEC:2001 – 5 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC MEASUREMENT EQUIPMENT –
EXPRESSION OF PERFORMANCE
FOREWORD
1) The IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of the IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, the IEC publishes International Standards. Their preparation is
entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested in the subject dealt with may
participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising
with the IEC also participate in this preparation. The IEC collaborates closely with the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by agreement between the
two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of the IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an
international consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation
from all interested National Committees.
3) The documents produced have the form of recommendations for international use published in the form of
standards, technical specifications, technical reports or guides and they are accepted by the National
Committees in that sense.
4) In order to promote international unification, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC International
Standards transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional standards. Any
divergence between the IEC Standard and the corresponding national or regional standard shall be clearly
indicated in the latter.
5) The IEC provides no marking procedure to indicate its approval and cannot be rendered responsible for any
equipment declared to be in conformity with one of its standards.
6) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this International Standard may be the subject
of patent rights. The IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC 60359 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 85:
Measuring equipment for electrical and electromagnetic quantities.
This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition published in 1987 and its
amendment 1 (1991), of which it constitutes a technical revision.
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
85/219/FDIS 85/220/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.
This International Standard was prepared by IEC TC 85 following its resolution 85/45/AC of
1994-12-16 “to revise the IEC 60359, taking into account the "Guide to the Expression of
Uncertainty in Measurement" (GUM) published by ISO in 1993”.
The main technical changes from the previous edition of this International Standard consist in
adapting the requirements on the instrument performance to the approach on uncertainty
taken by the GUM, adapting the terminology to the new edition of the IEV, and offering a
wider and more correct choice of options in specifying the limits of uncertainty.

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SIST EN 60359:2002
60359 © IEC:2001 – 7 –
Annexes A and B are for information only.
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
2005-12. At this date, the publication will be:
• reconfirmed;
• withdrawn;
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.

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SIST EN 60359:2002
60359 © IEC:2001 – 9 –
INTRODUCTION
With the appearance of the interorganizational Guide to the expression of uncertainty in
1
measurement (GUM) that embodied the suggestions of CIPM Recommendation CI-1981, it
became clear that the classical approach to the precision and accuracy of measurement in
terms of true value and error is being superseded by the approach in terms of uncertainty.
The intrinsic pitfalls of the concept of true value (hence of error) had indeed led the operative
measurement world to rely increasingly on the concept of uncertainty, notwithstanding that the
main body of standards concerning the performance of measuring instruments was still written
in terms of the traditional approach. The widening gap between the best practice in metrology
and the wording of the standards prompted the normative organizations to invite their
Technical Committees to update these publications.
This new edition of the International Standard IEC 60359 was prepared in order to bring it into
agreement with the GUM. During the procedure for its approval the chapters on measurement
of the new edition of the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEV) were published, and
the opportunity was taken to bring the standard into agreement with the terms used in the
IEV.
The main performance characteristics of an instrument are those related to the uncertainty of
the results obtained by using the instrument. The GUM provides a general terminology and a
computational framework for combining uncertainties of different origin, but it substantially
deals with the issue of evaluating uncertainty in the measurement of a quantity defined as a
function of other measured quantities, and does not address the issue of evaluating
instrumental uncertainty, i.e. the uncertainty of the results of the single direct measurements
carried out by the instruments. The GUM treats it as a component of uncertainty of category B,
known from information supplied by the manufacturer or calibrator of the instrument, in the
form of an expanded uncertainty with a stated coverage factor. It is therefore up to this
standard to provide indications for expressing and evaluating instrumental uncertainty in a
way consistent with the philosophy of the GUM. This means stating the requirements on
performance of the instruments in terms of limits of uncertainty instead of limits of error, which
implies a careful distinction between the indication of the instrument and the set of values
assigned to describe the measurand (see Annex A for the conceptual evolution from the
notion of error to the notion of uncertainty).
To this purpose, this standard systematically uses (in agreement with the IEV) the notion of
calibration diagram, which is also quite helpful in describing the interplay between intrinsic
uncertainty, variations, and operating uncertainty. Distinctions of this kind are essential, by
the way, for the new measuring systems, based on microprocessors with internal software or
using more than one input (multisensorial systems), that need to address the issue in general
terms without restrictive hypotheses on the instrumental hardware. They also allow a wider
choice of options in specifying performance characteristics.
For many people, of course, the passage from time-honored traditional terms and notions to
the ones evolved by modern metrology will require some mental adjustment, which is
altogether necessary, as current instrumentation has made giant steps from the times of
index-on-scale instruments. However, no particular difficulty is expected in translating into
terms consistent with this standard the bulk of existing technical specifications, most of which
are written in terms of "limits of error", often with ambiguities about whether or not suggested
corrections for influence quantities are included. When such ambiguities are removed, the old
specifications are easily harmonized to this standard by substituting the "limits of error" with
the "limits of instrumental uncertainty" expounded in clause 5, provided the contextual
indications (if any) on the means of evaluating these limits are adjusted to satisfy the
definitions given in this standard.
———————
1
 Comité International des Poids et Mesures (CIPM)

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SIST EN 60359:2002
60359 © IEC:2001 – 11 –
ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC MEASUREMENT EQUIPMENT —
EXPRESSION OF PERFORMANCE
1 Scope and object
This International Standard applies to the specification of performance, with primary reference
to industrial applications, of the following kinds of electrical and electronic equipment:
– indicating and recording instruments which measure electrical quantities;
– material measures which supply electrical quantities;
– instruments which measure non-electrical quantities using electrical means, for all parts of
the measuring chain which present electrical output signals.
This standard applies to the specification of performance of instruments operating in steady-
state conditions (see 3.1.15), usual in industrial applications.
It is based on the methods expounded in GUM for expressing and evaluating the uncertainty
of measurement, and refers to GUM for the statistical procedures to be used in determining
the intervals assigned to represent uncertainty (including the way to account for non-
negligible uncertainties in the traceability chain).
This standard does not address the propagation of uncertainty beyond the instrument (or the
measuring equipment) whose performance is considered and which may undergo compliance
testing.
The object is to provide methods for ensuring uniformity in the specification and determination
of uncertainties of equipment within its scope. All other necessary requirements have been
reserved for dependent IEC product standards pertaining to particular types of equipment
which fall within the scope of this standard.
For example: the selection of metrological characteristics and their ranges, and of influence
quantities and their specified operating ranges, is reserved for IEC product standards.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document.
For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition
of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
IEC 60050-300:2001, International Electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEV) – Electrical and
electronic measurements and measuring instruments – Part 311: General terms relating to
measurements – Part 312: General terms relating to electrical measurements – Part 313:
Types of electrical measuring instrument – Part 314: Specific terms according to the type of
instrument
ISO/IEC GUIDE EXPRES:1995, Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement

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SIST EN 60359:2002
60359 © IEC:2001 – 13 –
3 Definitions
For the purposes of this International Standard, the following definitions apply.
A word between brackets in the title of a definition is a qualifier that may be skipped if there is
no danger of confusion with a similar term. When two terms may be used interchangeably with
the same definition, these are separated by "or". Terms in italics in a note are new terms
defined by the context.
Most definitions are taken or adapted, together with their notes, from Part 311 of IEC 60050-300
(International Electrotechnical Vocabulary – IEV). As only terms pertaining to the "uncertainty
approach" are used, IEV notes stating that the term is used in this approach were omitted.
Where such definitions are simultaneously drawn from the International Vocabulary of Basic
and General Terms in Metrology (VIM), this has been indicated. In some cases, notes have
been added for the purposes of this standard.
3.1 Basic definitions
3.1.1
measurand
quantity subjected to measurement, evaluated in the state assumed by the measured system
during the measurement itself
NOTE 1  The value assumed by a quantity subjected to measurement when it is not interacting with the measuring
instrument may be called unperturbed value of the quantity.
NOTE 2  The unperturbed value and its associated uncertainty can only be computed through a model of the
measured system and of the measurement interaction with the knowledge of the appropriate metrological
characteristics of the instrument, that may be called instrumental load.
3.1.2
(result of a) measurement
set of values attributed to a measurand, including a value, the corresponding uncertainty and
the unit of measurement
[IEV 311-01-01, modified]
NOTE 1  The mid-value of the interval is called the value (see 3.1.3) of the measurand and its half-width the
uncertainty (see 3.1.4) [IEV modified].
NOTE 2  The measurement is related to the indication (see 3.1.5) given by the instrument and to the values of
correction obtained by calibration [IEV modified].
NOTE 3  The interval can be considered as representing the measurand provided that it is compatible with all
other measurements of the same measurand [IEV modified].
NOTE 4  The width of the interval, and hence the uncertainty, can only be given with a stated level of confidence
(see 3.1.4, NOTE 1) [IEV modified].
3.1.3
(measure-) value
mid element of the set assigned to represent the measurand
NOTE The measure-value is no more representative of the measurand than any other element of the set. It is
singled out merely for the convenience of expressing the set in the format V ± U, where V is the mid element and U
the half-width of the set, rather than by its extremes. The qualifier "measure-" is used when deemed necessary to
avoid confusion with the reading-value or the indicated value.
3.1.4
uncertainty (of measurement)
parameter, associated with the result of a measurement, that characterizes the dispersion of
the values that could reasonably be attributed to the measurand
[IEV 311-01-02, VIM 3.9]
NOTE 1  The parameter can be, for example, a standard deviation (or a given multiple of it), or a half-width of an
interval having a stated level of confidence [IEV, VIM].

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SIST EN 60359:2002
60359 © IEC:2001 – 15 –
NOTE 2  Uncertainty of measurement comprises, in general, many components. Some of these components can
be evaluated from the statistical distribution of the results of a series of measurements and can be characterized
by experimental standard deviations. The other components, which can also be characterized by standard
deviations, are evaluated from the assumed probability distributions based on experience or other information [IEV,
VIM].
NOTE 3  It is understood that the result of the measurement is the best estimate of the value of the measurand,
and that all components of uncertainty, including those arising from systematic effects, such as components
associated with corrections and reference standards, contribute to the dispersion [IEV, VIM].
NOTE 4  The definition and notes 1 and 2 are from GUM, clause B.2.18. The option used in this standard is to
express the uncertainty as the half-width of an interval with the GUM procedures with a coverage factor of 2. This
choice corresponds to the practice now adopted by many national standards laboratories. With the normal
distribution a coverage factor of 2 corresponds to a level of confidence of 95 %. Otherwise statistical elaborations
are necessary to establish the correspondence between the coverage factor and the level of confidence. As the
data for such elaborations are not always available, it is deemed preferable to state the coverage factor. This
interval can be "reasonably" assigned to describe the measurand, in the sense of the GUM definition, as in most
usual cases it ensures compatibility with all other results of measurements of the same measurand assigned in the
same way at a sufficiently high confidence level.
NOTE 5  Following CIPM document INC-1 and GUM, the components of uncertainty that are evaluated by
statistical methods are referred to as components of category A, and those evaluated with the help of other
methods as components of category B.
3.1.5
indication or reading-value
output signal of the instrument
[IEV 311-01-07, modified]
NOTE 1  The indicated value can be derived from the indication by means of the calibration curve [IEV].
NOTE 2  For a material measure, the indication is its nominal or stated value [IEV].
NOTE 3  The indication depends on the output format of the instrument:
– for analogue outputs it is a number tied to the appropriate unit of the display;
– for digital outputs it is the displayed digitized number;
– for code outputs it is the identification of the code pattern.
NOTE 4  For analogue outputs meant to be read by a human observer (as in the index-on-scale instruments) the
unit of output is the unit of scale numbering; for analogue outputs meant to be read by another instrument (as in
calibrated transducers) the unit of output is the unit of measurement of the quantity supporting the output signal.
3.1.6
calibration
set of operations which establishes the relationship which exists, under specified conditions,
between the indication and the result of a measurement by reference to standards
[IEV 311-01-09]
NOTE 1  The relationship between the indications and the results of measurement can be expressed, in principle,
by a calibration diagram [IEV].
NOTE 2  The calibration must be performed under well defined operating conditions for the instrument. The
calibration diagram representing its result is not valid if the instrument is operated under conditions outside the
range used for the calibration.
NOTE 3  Quite often, specially for instruments whose metrological characteristics are sufficiently known from past
experience, it is convenient to predefine a simplified calibration diagram and perform only a verification of
calibration (see 3.2.12) to check whether the response of the instrument stays within its limits. The simplified
diagram is of course wider than the diagram that would be defined by the full calibration of the instrument, and the
uncertainty assigned to the results of measurements is consequently larger.
3.1.7
calibration diagram
portion of the co-ordinate plane, defined by the axis of indication and the axis of results of
measurement, which represents the response of the instrument to differing values of the
measurand
[IEV 311-01-10]

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SIST EN 60359:2002
60359 © IEC:2001 – 17 –
3.1.8
calibration curve
curve which gives the relationship between the indication and the value of the measurand
[IEV 311-01-11]
NOTE 1  The calibration curve is the curve bisecting the width of the calibration diagram parallel to the axis of
results of measurement, thus joining the points representing the values of the measurand (see 6.1 and Figure 1).
NOTE 2  When the calibration curve is a straight line passing through zero, it is convenient to refer to the slope
which is known as the instrument constant [IEV].
3.1.9
indicated value
value given by an indicating instrument on the basis of its calibration curve
[IEV 311-01-08]
NOTE The indicated value is the measure-value of the measurand when the instrument is used in a direct
measurement (see 3.2.7) under all the operating conditions for which the calibration diagram is valid.
3.1.10
(measurement) compatibility
property satisfied by all the results of measurement of the same measurand, characterized by
an adequate overlap of their intervals
[IEV 311-01-14]
NOTE 1  The compatibility of any result of a measurement with all the other ones that represent the same
measurand can be asserted only at some level of confidence, as it depends on statistical inference, a level that
should be indicated, at least by implicit convention or through a coverage factor.
NOTE 2  The compatibility of the results of measurements obtained with different instruments and methods is
ensured by the traceability (see 3.1.16) to a common primary standard (see 3.2.6) of the standards used for the
calibration of the several instruments (and of course by the correctness of the calibration and operation
procedures).
NOTE 3  When two results of a measurement are not compatible one must decide by independent means whether
one or both results are wrong (perhaps because the uncertainty is too narrow), or whether the measurand is not
the same.
NOTE 4  Measurements carried out with wider uncertainty yield results which are compatible on a wider range,
because they discriminate less among different measurands allowing to classify them with simpler models; with
narrower uncertainties the compatibility calls for more detailed models of the measured systems.
3.1.11
intrinsic uncertainty of the measurand
minimum uncertainty that can be assigned in the description of a measured quantity
NOTE 1  No quant
...