New Cable Colour Code|technical lib Page 1 of 3

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New Cable Colour Code

With effect form 2007, colour for identification of conductors in fixed electrical installations will be changed, and the
Alarm & Audio & Electronic details are shown below.
Cables
Automotive Cables
Airport Cables
Aerial Bundled Cables
Belden Equivalent Cables
Bus Cables
Coaxial Cables
Cables for Oil Industry
Control Cables
Composite Cables
Data Cables
Fiber Optic Cables
Flexible Cables Table 1 - Change of Cable Colour Code
Fire Resisting Cables(Fireflix) Source: HK EMSD
Fire Retardant Cables(FIRETOX)
Flame Retardant Cables
(FIREGUARD)
High Temperature Cables
Highway Cables
Instrumentation Cables
Industrial Cables
Lan Cables
Mining Cables
Military Cables
Medium/High Voltage Cables
NEK606 Offshore & Marine
Cables
Marine, OIL,GAS & Petrochemical
Cables
Power Cables
Railway Cables
Robotics
Rolling Stock Cables
Rubber & Crane Cables
Security Cables
Special Cables
Shipboard Cables(JIS)
Spiral Cables
Submarine Cables
Submersible Pump Cables for Oil
Industry
Telephone Cables
Thermocouple Cables
Windmill Cables
Other Cabless

The change is applicable to all new electrical installations as well as addition & alteration to existing electrical
installations. Existing installations with cables adopting the old cable colour code will not be affected.
BS 5308 Cables
PAS 5308 Cables

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BS 5467 Cables The new cable colour code complies with the requirements of relevant national and international standards (such as
IEC 60446, EN 60446, BS EN 60446 and BS 7671) and has been adopted by the majority of the western countries
BS 6724 Cables (e.g. UK, France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal etc.).
BS 6346 Cables
BS 7211 Cables
BS 8573 Cables

IEC 60502-1 Cables

En 50288-7 Cables
NF M 87-202

Precautions
In the new colour code, the black core will be changed from neutral to phase and the blue core from phase to
neutral. Wrong connection of these cores will lead to increased risk, leading to possible electrical accidents and short
circuiting, in particular during the transition period. To ensure electrical safety, it is recommended not to conduct,
whenever practicable, works on "LIVE" installations at any cable colour change interfaces. Where serious
inconvenience would arise from isolating electrical circuits for works at the cable colour change interfaces, adequate
safety precautions should be taken to avoid danger from "LIVE" working conditions.
Installation Guides - New Installation
The old cable colour code, i.e. red, yellow and blue for phase conductors and black for the neutral conductor, are to
be replaced by the new one, i.e. brown, black and grey for phase conductors and blue for the neutral conductor, as
specified in Table 1. Circuits for new installations should be wired in new colour coded cables.
For a single phase installation, only the brown colour should be used to identify a phase conductor, irrespective of
whether it is connected to the L1, L2 or L3 phase. For a room /flat /unit taking single phase electricity supply from a
multi-phase power supply source, only brown (phase) and blue (neutral) coloured cables should be used.

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Source: HK EMSD (2007), http://www.emsd.gov.hk

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