CISPR 32 replaced two standards at once: CISPR 22 (information technology equipment) and CISPR 13 (broadcast receivers and associated equipment), merging both scopes into a single category called multimedia equipment (MME). First published in 2012, CISPR 32 became the sole applicable standard when its predecessors were withdrawn in 2017; in the EU, EN 55032 has been the mandatory harmonized emission standard for multimedia equipment since March 2017. The current edition is CISPR 32:2015+A1:2019.

Why were CISPR 22 and CISPR 13 merged?

Because the product boundary between them collapsed. CISPR 22 governed computers and IT equipment; CISPR 13 governed radio and TV receivers. By the 2000s a smart TV was a broadcast receiver, a computer and a network appliance in one box, and manufacturers faced genuine ambiguity over which standard applied - or had to test to both. CISPR subcommittee I resolved the problem by defining one scope, multimedia equipment: equipment with a primary or combined function of information technology, audio, video, broadcast reception, entertainment lighting control or combinations of these. One product, one standard, regardless of how functions are mixed.

What is the transition timeline?

What actually changed for testing?

The limit values for a typical IT product carried over largely intact - Class A and Class B classifications and the familiar quasi-peak/average conducted and radiated limits remain - but the framework around them changed:

Two practical consequences stand out. First, products that previously sat in CISPR 13 territory inherited the ITE-style measurement regime, including conducted emission measurements with a LISN. Second, documentation had to be redone even where numbers matched: a declaration of conformity citing EN 55022 became invalid for EU purposes in March 2017.

How does this affect FCC compliance?

Directly, not at all: US requirements live in 47 CFR Part 15, measured per ANSI C63.4, as described on our FCC Part 15 page and in FCC Class A vs Class B. But most manufacturers test once for both markets in a combined program, so the CISPR 32 port classifications and test configurations now shape the worldwide test plan, with FCC limits checked against the same measurement data where setups allow.

What was Don Heirman’s connection to CISPR 32?

Donald N. Heirman, longtime CISPR chairman, was deeply involved in communicating the multimedia transition to industry and ran a dedicated CISPR 32 workshop through his training activities - see the seminars page for his educational work and the biography for his CISPR leadership. His consistent message applies to any standards transition: read the new scope definition first, because that is where compliance obligations actually change. The broader CISPR committee structure and publication family are covered on our CISPR standards page.