IEC 60086-4 specifies tests and requirements for primary lithium batteries to ensure their safe operation under intended use and reasonably foreseeable misuse. Primary lithium batteries for both consumer and industrial applications are well-established, safe and reliable products in the market, which is at least partly due to the existence of safety standards such as IEC 60086-4.
This edition of IEC 60086-4 includes the following significant technical changes:
— Added definitions for leakage and venting, in addition to the test criteria,
— Revised overdischarge test, marking requirements, and criteria for the child-resistant packaging test,
— Changed the purpose of Annex F from "informative" to "normative",
— Added a new Annex G with additional measures against the misuse of batteries not intended for consumer replacement,
— Integrated the contents of Interpretation Sheet 1 (IEC 60086-4:2019/ISH1:2020),
— In Clause 3, terms were reordered according to their functions: basic terms, electrochemical systems, battery shapes, battery sizes, electrical characteristics, specifications, safety aspects, failure modes.
The ingestion hazard of coin cell batteries has become an issue and was addressed in the fifth and sixth editions of this document by several independent measures, such as the development of a new safety sign "KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN" as well as the introduction of child-resistant packaging. A new Annex G addresses measures against the misuse of cells and batteries not intended for consumer replacement.
IEC 60086-4:2025 text has been approved in Europe as EN IEC 60086-4:2025 without any changes.
