2. Overview of the main standards

2.1 General view of standards

For a long time, sectoral standards were very independent, with a wide variety of responses dependent on sectoral practices in the form of specific bodies of rules. While this distinction is still valid today, the current trend, while preserving this sectoral aspect, is towards coherence between the various fields, with some of them more or less abandoning their old standards to bring themselves into line, via new standards, with the shared logic of the software SoTL community.

The turning point in this process was the publication of IEC 61508, which explicitly claims to be a meta-standard, and strongly urges all sectors to comply with it. Many sectors have followed or are in the process of doing so, while others have remained...