CompliantCompliant is a term used to describe electrical apparatus and machinery that are designed to meet the specifications of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The IEC standards guarantee that equipment and systems manufactured all over the world are compatible.
In 1904, The International Electrical Congress decided that a commission should be established to ensure, "That steps should be taken to secure the cooperation of the technical societies of the world, by the appointment of a representative Commission to consider the question of the standardization of the nomenclature and ratings of electrical apparatus and machinery." The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) was founded in 1906. Since then, The IEC has become the unquestioned world authority for standards in the electrical and electronics industries.
Sites on the WWW are often described as being "compliant" with an application. For example, a site could be described as being compliant with a particular version of HTML, or a specific type or version of WWW browser.
The term compliance also appears when a user views sites which advertise different types of operating systems and products. A user who wishes to purchase a piece of equipment must make sure that it is "compliant" with the system that he or she possesses. Finally, many sites also use the term compliant in its original sense by listing the IEC International Standard number to which it complies.