In 2019, two new standards saw the light of day: ISO 20607 and IEC/IEEE 82079. The trend of the paper manual becoming obsolete continues. A relief for many companies. But exactly how do we need to handle online instructions?
Many European Directives, such as the R&TTE, LVD and EMC Directive, were repealed or replaced in 2016, allowing companies to deliver the user instructions for many products only online. The new standards on instructions for use also offer new opportunities. For many products, it is no longer required to supply the full manual in the packaging. This digitization is a pretty logical step considering that 85 percent of European households had an internet connection in 2016, and Western Europe and Eastern Europe had a 75 percent and 60 percent smartphone penetration respectively.
In this article, I will discuss how you can legally digitize your product information, under which circumstances you can publish your documentation online, and in which cases print is still required. For this I will review the relevant parts of ISO 20607 and IEC 82079 that relate to online publication.
What does ...
Read more after login
tekom members can log in directly with their "My tekom" access data.
You are not yet a tekom member, but would like to read one or more articles in full? Then you have the opportunity to register on the internet portal of the technical journal 'tcworld' without obligation. Once you have registered, you can select any three specialist articles and view them in full for a period of two months. The selection will then be deleted and you can select three new articles for the next two months.
As a tekom member you benefit from the following advantages::
- Online access to all articles of the trade magazine 'tcworld magazine'
- Exclusive specialist articles from all areas of technical communication
- Regular new articles from over 300 authors
- The technical journal 'tcworld magazine' as a printed edition
- Reduced admission prices to tekom conferences
- Membership fees for tekom publications
- Access to 'my tekom', the web forum with job offers / job requests, appointments, expert advice, service provider file and much more
Login
Registration
Promised: The trade magazine 'tcworld magazine' is the best we have. And we don't make the choice easy for ourselves. Every month, the editorial staff of the technical journal 'tcworld magazine' publishes the latest articles by renowned authors. This demanding selection is available exclusively to members of tekom (as usual, including the printed edition).
The trade magazine 'tcworld magazine' stands for intelligently prepared specialist articles, texts written to the point, informative content, surprising insights, international perspectives and communicates technical communication in an understandable, fast, clear and uncomplicated way - exclusively for you.
