IEC 60906-1

IEC 60906-1 (IEC designation "Type N") is an international standard designed "to provide a standard for a safe, compact and practical 16 A 250 V AC system of plugs and socket-outlets that could be accepted by many countries as their national standard, even if not in the near future." The standard was originally published by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1986; the current edition is ed2.0 published in 2009. Although it is almost identical to the Swiss SN 441011 T12 plug for 10 A 250 V a.c. standardized in 1937, its dimensions are slightly different and its polarization is flipped. (If the IEC 60906-1 socket has the protective/earth conductor at the top, the live conductor is on the right and the neutral one is on the left.)

As of March 2025^[update], only South Africa and Paraguay have introduced standards based closely on IEC 60906-1, and only in South Africa the installation of sockets of this type has become mandatory. Brazil used it as the basis for its NBR 14136 standard, but this is not fully compatible with IEC 60906-1. In 2017, an analysis published by the European Union (EU) did not recommend the harmonization of domestic plug and socket systems in the EU, arguing that the existing systems are already reasonably safe and that a harmonization would cause huge costs and unnecessary electric waste.

IEC 60906-1 plugs and socket-outlets are rated 16 A, 250 V AC and are intended for use on distribution systems having nominal voltages between 200 V and 250 V AC. IEC 60906-1 defines both 3-pin connectors for class I appliances and 2-pin versions for class II appliances. (Additional oval-shaped 2-pin connectors for class 0 appliances defined in the first edition of the standard were never implemented and no longer appear in the current second edition.)

The IEC 60906-1 plugs are smaller than any other European plug with 16 A rating, being only slightly larger than the 2.5 A Europlug and providing much more reliable contact. The sockets are small enough that two can be installed in the space taken by a single Schuko or BS 1363 socket.

The socket has either a 10 mm deep recess or a 12 mm high rim, to exclude incompatible plugs. It ensures that the protective-earth pin establishes contact before the live and neutral pins. Sockets are required to have shutters for the live and neutral apertures.

As it uses the same 19 mm pin spacing as most existing European systems (Schuko, etc.), it would be possible to design sockets that can accept both the traditional plug as well as the IEC 60906-1 Class I and II plugs, thereby enabling a smooth transition to the new system. However, the IEC 60906-1 standard explicitly discourages the use of multi-standard sockets, claiming that such sockets are likely to create safety problems when used with plugs from other countries.

IEC 60906-1 plugs are similar in size and shape to the Europlug, with the front profile being a flat hexagon. They are 35.5 mm wide. The 3-pin Class I plug is 17 mm high, whereas the 2-pin Class II plug is 14 mm high (similar to the Europlug). The parallel side faces are 26 mm apart, and the two pairs of side faces are orthogonal to each other. Like Schuko and Europlug, the live and neutral pin are 19 mm long and on centres spaced at 19 mm. The pins have a diameter of 4.5 mm, intermediate between Schuko (⌀4.8 mm) and Europlug (⌀4.0 mm). In common with the Europlug there is an insulating sleeve around the base of the live and neutral pins. The 3-pin version has a round protective-earth pin of the same length and diameter as the live and neutral pins, but with no insulating sleeve. The protective-earth pin's centre is offset 3 mm from the centre point between the live and neutral pin.

South Africa was the first only country to have incorporated IEC 60906-1 plugs and sockets into its own national standards, as SANS 164–2. SANS 164-2 was made the preferred standard in 2013, replacing the older SANS 164-1 (based on BS 546) but according to the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) electrotechnical standards development manager, the new plugs and sockets would have "a long, long phase-in period, more than 20 years".