September 04, 2012 – Underwriters Laboratories (UL) published the first edition of the standard for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels, ANSI/UL 8752, CAN/ULC-S8752. The bi-national standard was co-published by UL and ULC Standards, and received ANSI and SCC approval, making them the national standards for the United States and Canada, respectively.

A joint UL/ULC technical committee for solid-state lighting (TCSSL) formed by UL and ULC Standards served as the consensus body in the standards-development process for the document. The concurrent development harmonized Canadian and American requirements, says UL, significantly reducing the time to publication.

“For a number of years SDOs and the respective Standards Bodies in Canada and the U.S.A. have discussed how they can work together to develop and harmonize standards more efficiently,” said G. Rae Dulmage, director, ULC Standards and chair of the Standards Council of Canada Standards Development Organization Advisory Committee. “Various means tried in the past could never achieve this. Often SDOs committees could not agree with industry and SDOs shying away from what was often a clumsy and heavy process.”

OLED technology has been in the market for a number of years and is primarily used in video screens and displays on portable consumer electronics. More recently, it has been employed in decorative lighting applications and now general illumination. OLEDs are expected to join LED technology in “revolutionizing general illumination”.