IEC 62841-2-25:2026 – Electric motor-operated hand-held tools, transportable tools and lawn and gard

IEC 62841-2-25:2026 is a Part 2 standard within the IEC 62841 series on safety of motor-operated tools. It sets out particular requirements for hand-held chain beam saws and is applied together with the general standard IEC 62841-1. The page below summarizes its scope, product coverage and the practical compliance context for engineering and procurement readers. It is an interpretive overview; the document itself is available only from official IEC sources.

Standard Information

IEC 62841-2-25:2026 addresses the safety of hand-held chain beam saws intended for cutting wood or similar material by a single operator. As a "Part 2-25" document, it does not stand alone: it supplements and modifies the general requirements of IEC 62841-1, converting them into a complete standard for this specific tool family. Procurement and quality teams should therefore hold both documents when specifying or verifying such tools. - Designation: IEC 62841-2-25:2026
- Full title: electric motor-operated hand-held tools, transportable tools and lawn and garden machinery - Safety - Part 2-25: Particular requirements for hand-held chain beam saws
- Status: Current
- Publication date: 2026-08-28
- ICS classification: 25, 25.140.20
- Technical committee: TC 116

Scope and Application

The standard applies to hand-held chain beam saws for cutting wood or similar material, designed for use by one person. It forms the particular-requirements layer of the IEC 62841 structure. This means every clause of IEC 62841-1:2014, including its Amendment 1:2025, remains in force except where this document adds to, modifies or replaces it. Where a particular subclause of the general standard is not mentioned here, that subclause applies as far as reasonable. Several exclusions define the boundary of the document. It does not cover chain beam saw attachments that convert a circular saw or a chain saw into a chain beam saw. It also excludes chain saws, chain saws for tree service and pole-mounted pruners, which fall under other parts of the series. Numbering conventions show how the two documents interlock. Additional subclauses, notes, tables and figures beyond those in IEC 62841-1 are numbered from 101; additions within Annex K and Annex L are numbered from 301. The committee recommends national adoption no earlier than 36 months after publication, giving manufacturers and testing organizations a transitional period.

Products and Materials Covered

The product family in scope is narrow and clearly delimited: hand-held chain beam saws powered by electric motors, cutting wood or material of similar character, and operated by one person. The ICS classifications 25.140 and 25.140.20 place the document among portable hand-operated tools, consistent with the hand-held character of the equipment. Two adjacent product groups sit outside the scope. First, attachments that convert a circular saw or a chain saw into a chain beam saw are not covered. Second, conventional chain saws and chain saws for tree service, as well as pole-mounted pruners, are excluded; these belong to other parts of the IEC 62841 series. Engineers verifying scope should therefore confirm that the equipment is a self-contained hand-held chain beam saw before applying this part.

Testing and Compliance Considerations

For a Part 2 standard of this kind, testing laboratories typically work from the general standard IEC 62841-1 and the applicable base edition, then overlay the additions, modifications and replacements defined in this document. Type testing against the combined requirements is the normal route to demonstrate conformity of a tool design, and the resulting evidence supports declarations used in procurement and market surveillance. Documentation practice matters as much as the tests themselves. Because subclauses numbered from 101 and from 301 carry particular requirements, reports should trace each result to the correct source clause, distinguishing general requirements from particular ones. Acceptance verification by an accredited laboratory, based on a documented test plan, gives quality managers traceable evidence for supplier qualification. Retest triggers deserve attention during the 36-month transition. Design changes to the saw, changes in motor or guarding configuration, or revisions to the referenced general standard can each invalidate earlier results. Where a requirement in this document differs from IEC 62841-1, the particular text governs; laboratories apply the "addition", "modification" or "replacement" instruction accordingly and record which text was applied.

Related Standards and Series Context

The designation itself encodes the document's position. IEC 62841 is the series covering safety of electric motor-operated hand-held tools, transportable tools and lawn and garden machinery; the "-2" group collects particular requirements for hand-held tools; "-25" identifies this specific part on chain beam saws. The ":2026" suffix marks the publication year of this edition. Part 2 documents never operate in isolation. Each is written for use in conjunction with Part 1 of the series and converts the general requirements into a standard specific to one tool type. Readers should note the record's stated dependencies: this part is to be used with IEC 62841-1:2014 and its amendment IEC 62841-1:2014/AMD1:2025. The document itself is obtainable through official IEC channels; this overview does not reproduce or replace it.