Australia/NZ LED Driver Safety Update: AS/NZS 61347.1 Amd 3:2026 Makes Surge Protection Mandatory

What actually changed in the standard

Standards Australia published AS/NZS 61347.1:2016 Amd 3:2026 on 24 July 2026. The amendment is now listed as Current, and the reissued consolidated edition includes Amendment No. 3. In practice the update folds the content of IEC 61347-1:2015 Amendment 1:2017 into the Australia/New Zealand framework and adds several local safety requirements for lamp controlgear.

The changes that matter most for LED drivers are:

• A new SPD (Surge Protective Device) requirement, bringing surge protection into the formal safety evaluation for outdoor and mains-exposed drivers.
• Strengthened SELV marking rules for safety extra-low-voltage circuits.
• Refined creepage and clearance rules for high-frequency operating voltages and potted/encapsulated drivers, plus updated rules for Y-capacitor bridging insulation.
• Updated terminal blocks, MCPCB insulation classification, and temperature/rising-test conditions.
• A dedicated PWM dimming driver supplement covering pulse-voltage and fault-condition safety evaluation — dimmable drivers are the most affected product type.

What it means for sourcing and selection

For buyers serving Australia and New Zealand, the real trap is not the standard itself but whether your supplier's test report cites the full set of amendments. Certification bodies, customer factory audits, and CNAS scope reviews all check standard-version completeness. A report that only shows AS/NZS 61347.1:2016 without A2 and A3 will be flagged as an incomplete standard version.

The affected product range is broad: constant-current and constant-voltage LED drivers, electronic control units for lamps, including independent external drivers, luminaire-integrated drivers, and IC-grade recessed drivers. Outdoor IP67 constant-voltage drivers and dimmable drivers are the highest-risk categories — the former sit in lightning and grid-surge environments, the latter now face added safety evaluation for pulse voltage and fault conditions under PWM or phase-cut dimming.

Our recommendation: from the second half of 2026, request a test report or certificate assessment that explicitly references Amd 3:2026 before placing an order, rather than accepting a vague "safety certified" statement.

Our take as a driver manufacturer

We are a Shenzhen-based LED driver supplier. Our outdoor waterproof series (such as H11, H16, S05, S06, H03) use an aluminium sealed enclosure with potting to achieve IP67 ingress protection, built for damp and water-exposed outdoor environments. Following the direction of this amendment, we give overseas engineering buyers and distributors three actionable points:

• Put surge protection on the acceptance checklist. Outdoor drivers should protect downstream luminaires against mains-side surges (commonly described by IEC 61000-4-5 as ±4 kV / 2 kA combination waves). Ask suppliers to state line-to-line and line-to-earth withstand levels.
• Verify the report version, not just the mark. Confirm that the CB/RCM report references Amd 3:2026 to avoid port-side delays caused by an incomplete standard version.
• Confirm fault-condition safety for dimmable drivers. Insulation and temperature rise of PWM, phase-cut, 0-10V, and DALI interfaces under abnormal states are the new focus; keep the supplier's design notes on file.

Action checklist

• Holders of existing Australia/NZ RCM/EESS certificates: contact the issuing body to assess whether an Amd 3:2026 report upgrade is needed.
• New product development: design and submit to test directly against the full "+A3" version to avoid later re-testing.
• Before ordering: add a hard clause to the spec sheet — "test report must reference AS/NZS 61347.1:2016 with Amd 1:2018, Amd 2:2025, Amd 3:2026."

Note that safety certification is an entry requirement, not a performance guarantee. Whether a specific model holds the relevant certification and its measured surge-protection level should be confirmed from the supplier's current certificate and test report; we can provide model specifications and construction details for engineering evaluation.