As emergency lighting requirements and lithium battery technologies evolve, it is essential for businesses to stay up to date with the latest changes to relevant standards and certifications. In the case of batteries for emergency luminaires, the British Standards BS EN 60598-2-22 and BS EN 61347-1 set the benchmark for quality. With two big updates to these standards now in effect, businesses need to ensure they remain compliant.
In this blog we’ll explore the changes, what they mean for businesses, and how BSI can help ensure ongoing compliance and differentiation in the marketplace.
What are the changes to BS EN 60598-2-22 and BS EN 61347-2-7 certification?
There have recently been two significant updates to standards within emergency lighting, with all products holding Kitemark certification required to be updated by the date of withdrawal of the current standards on 24 June 2025. These changes include additional requirements added to lithium battery technologies.
The major changes to BS EN 60598-2-22 include:
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Addition of voltages per cell to which the battery is discharged (lithium technologies)
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Addition of Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4), Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (Li(NiCoMn02), Lithium Titanate Oxide (LTO) batteries to Annex A
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Additional requirements in A.7 for lithium battery technologie
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Cells for batteries shall conform fully to IEC 62620 and IEC 62133-2.
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A battery shall conform to the following clauses of IEC 62133-2:2017
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2.2 – Case stress at high ambient temperature (battery)
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3.2 – External short-circuit (battery)
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3.6 – Overcharging of battery
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2 – Battery marking
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4 – Other information
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A battery shall conform to the following clauses of IEC 62620:2014
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3 – Battery designation
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3.1 – Discharge performance at +25 °C
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3.2 – Discharge performance at low temperature
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3.3 – High rate permissible current
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5 – Cell and battery internal resistance
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6.2 – Endurance in storage at constant voltage (permanent charge life)
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Criteria in A.7.4 for guidance on batteries that can be considered a family.
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Criteria for protection devices.
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Over-discharge/Discharge overcurrent/Overcharge for replaceable batteries shall be incorporated into the battery.
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Additionally for replaceable batteries, if two or more cells are connected in series, each voltage shall be monitored separately to ensure specified voltage limits are not exceeded– This control can be contained within the battery or part of the control gear.
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Over-discharge/Discharge overcurrent/Overcharge for non-replaceable batteries shall be incorporated into the battery or the control gear. Additional requirements are stated for non-replaceable batteries.
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Additionally for non-replaceable batteries, if two or more cells are connected in series, each voltage shall be monitored separately to ensure specified voltage limits are not exceeded. This control can be contained within the battery or part of the control gear.
The major changes to BS EN 61347-2-7 include:
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Addition of Vmin and V1 values added for Lithium technologies.
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Addition of voltages per cell to which the battery is discharged (lithium technologies)
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Addition of clause 22.7 for charger for lithium batteri.
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Chargers shall operate the cells within the recommendations of the battery manufacturers declaration of design.
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Criteria for battery operation given in tables 1 and 3
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Additional requirement for the batteries not to charge if the cell temperature is below Tcmin or the cell temperature is above Tcmax. Requirement for the temperature control to be contained in the battery, as part of the battery protection device, or as part of the control gear.
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Additional requirement for batteries, if two or more cells are connected in series, each voltage shall be monitored separately to ensure specified voltage limits are not exceeded– This control can be contained within the battery or part of the control gear.
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Additional requirement for Lithium battery technologies within clause 23 – Protection against excessive discharge. This addition gives the testing method and limits for the protection.
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Additional requirements within clause 28 – Fault conditions. This addition states that the battery Vmax and Imax shall not be exceeded during fault testing.
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Annex I directly references Annex A of 60598-2-22 – this has been updated (see updates above).
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Addition of Annex M – Example of battery manufacturers declaration of design for a Li battery. Table M.1 provides details of the information expected to be provided in a battery manufacturers declaration of design for a lithium battery.
What do these changes mean for current Kitemark certifications?
Any emergency luminaire and emergency control gear that currently uses lithium battery technologies will need to provide evidence of compliance during update testing.
The evidence will need to be presented as either a 17025 accredited test report from a laboratory with IEC 62620 (Or BS EN 62620) and IEC 62133 (or BS EN 62133) within its accredited testing scope, or certification from a 17065 accredited certification body IEC 62620 (or BS EN 62620) and IEC 62133 (or BS EN 62133) within their accredited certification scope.
Batteries or control gear will need to incorporate a temperature control to ensure they can’t charge if exceeding declared temperature limits. In addition, any replaceable batteries will need to incorporate a protective device for over-discharge, discharge overcurrent and overcharge.
For non-replaceable batteries, evidence will need to be provided to ensure that protective devices are included within the control gear. This will need to be either a 17025 accredited test report from a laboratory who has IEC 61347-2-7:2011+A2:2021 (or BS EN 61347-2-7:2012+A2:2022) or certification from a 17065 accredited certification body with IEC 61347-2-7:2011+A2:2021 (or BS EN 61347-2-7:2012+A2:2022) within their accredited certification scope.
In the case of BS EN 61347-2-7, a battery manufacturer declaration will also be required, for the design of all batteries which are used with the control gear.
How can BSI help?
Some of these changes may require current batteries, control gear or luminaires to be redesigned to meet the new requirements, and the updated testing needs to be completed by 24 June 2025.
The changes to BS EN 60598-2-22 and BS EN 61347-2-7 may seem daunting, but with the right guidance and support, businesses can ensure their ongoing compliance.
For help with gathering the correct evidence required for lithium batteries for emergency lighting, or if have any questions about BSI Kitemark certification, call us on 0345 076 5606 or email product.certification@bsigroup.com
