ECLASS Releases

Every year we publish a new ECLASS Release. In this way, we are continuously expanding the standard in accordance with current and future market requirements. 

The latest ECLASS Release 15.0 again incorporates over 275,000 change requests from industry experts. It will be released on 29 November 2024 and offers 

• full translations in 29 languages (as well as partial translations in two additional languages)
• 490 new Classes (CC, AS, BL, AC), including 160 new classification classes (CCs)
• about 810 new Properties
• about 1,700 new Values
• about 210 new Value Lists

• Segment 21 "Plant equipment, tool"
• Segment 23 "Maschine element, fixing, mounting"
• Segment 27 "Electric engineering, automation, process controll engineering"
• Segment 34 "Medical device"
• Segment 36 "Maschine, apparatus"

ECLASS and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

With the release of ECLASS Release 15.0, we are also providing around 250 new Classification Class definitions. For the first time, the definitions have been created using Artificial Intelligence and then quality checked by experts from the ECLASS community before being approved for the new release. These important content enhancements in several areas will ensure more accurate and comprehensive classifications for our users in many industries.

By the way, we publish machine-readable files (TUF and CUF) for each new version. This makes ECLASS the only Standard worldwide that enables automatic - because machine-readable - migrations.

Green light for digital battery passport

The Digital Battery Passport aims to promote sustainability and transparency of batteries, reduce environmental impact and support battery recycling. The new content of ECLASS 15.0 includes other important features in the new battery classes of the main group "accumulators, batteries".

• Certified energy state
• Initial self-discharge rate
• Rated capacity
• Decrease in capacity
• Initial capacity
• State of Charge (SoC)

Product information according to the EU Deforestation Regulation

In an effort to reduce global deforestation and forest degradation, agricultural commodities will be required to demonstrate that they have been produced without deforestation and forest degradation by the end of 2024. In addition to timber, the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) also covers soy, cocoa, coffee, cattle and rubber, as well as products made from them, such as furniture and seals.

The ECLASS Environmental Footprint Working Group has already integrated the relevant structures into the ECLASS standard as the standard Material Declaration aspect for the information required by the EU Regulation, so that they will be available to users from ECLASS Release 15.0. In addition to the product information required by the EU Regulation, the new Material Declaration standard aspect also includes information for products with critical ingredients.

Based on the specifications of IDTA for Submodel Templates, ECLASS Release 14.0 provides in addition to the templates "Nameplate" and "Handover Documentation" that were already included in Release 13.0, four new aspects for Asset Administration Shells (AAS) and Digital Twins.

• “Technical Data”: This Submodel Template allows a full ECLASS product description to be integrated into the AAS. The AAS can thus contain product descriptions of several ECLASS versions in both ECLASS Basic and ECLASS Advanced at the same time.
• “Carbon Footprint”: By using the Submodel Template “Carbon Footprint” ECLASS users can integrate information on the environmental impact of products or components into the AAS.
• “Service Request Notification”: In order to help streamline communication about service requests we have implemented this Submodel Template. It helps integrate information on service request notifications into the AAS.
• “Contact Information”: We have implemented this aspect to seamlessly manage and share contact details within your data ecosystem. Whether it's a manufacturer's address, customer support email, or a service provider's contact number, using ECLASS this template ensures that crucial contact information is easily accessible and uniformly structured in your AAS.