The international standard IEC – 60529 “Degrees of Protection”, and is a coding system to indicate the degree of protection provided by the product enclosure against access to hazardous parts, against the penetration of external solid bodies and against the penetration of liquids into them, and provide additional information concerning such protection.
It consists of the letters “IP” (Ingress Protection) followed by two numerical figures, which are independent of each other: the first figure serves to indicate the degree of protection of the equipment against penetration of foreign solid bodies, and the second figure indicates the protection of the equipment inside the enclosure against harmful effects due to penetration of liquids (mainly water).
