National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of EN 12312‑20:2026. It supersedes BS EN 12312‑20:2005+A1:2009, which is withdrawn.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee ACE/57, Air cargo and ground support equipment.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

This publication has been prepared under a mandate given to the European Standards Organizations by the European Commission and the European Free Trade Association. It is intended to support requirements of the EU legislation detailed in the European Foreword. A European Annex, usually Annex ZA or ZZ, describes how this publication relates to that EU legislation.

For the Great Britain market (England, Scotland and Wales), if UK Government has designated this publication for conformity with UKCA marking (or similar) legislation, it may contain an additional National Annex. Where such a National Annex exists, it shows the correlation between this publication and the relevant UK legislation. If there is no National Annex of this kind, the relevant Annex ZA or ZZ in the body of the European text will indicate the relationship to UK regulation applicable in Great Britain. References to EU legislation may need to be read in accordance with the UK designation and the applicable UK law. Further information on designated standards can be found at www.bsigroup.com/standardsandregulation.

For the Northern Ireland market, UK law will continue to implement relevant EU law subject to periodic confirmation. Therefore Annex ZA/ZZ in the European text, and references to EU legislation, are still valid for this market.

UK Government is responsible for legislation. For information on legislation and policies relating to that legislation, consult the relevant pages of www.gov.uk.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 30 September 2026.

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 27 April 2026.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and United Kingdom.

European foreword

This document (EN 12312‑20:2026) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 274 “Aircraft ground support equipment”, the secretariat of which is held by DIN.

This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by March 2027, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by March 2027.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

This document supersedes EN 12312‑20:2005+A1:2009.

This document includes the following significant technical changes with respect to EN 12312‑20:2005+A1:2009:

the Introduction was updated;
the Scope was updated;
Clause 2, Normative references, was updated;
Clause 4, List of hazards, was updated;
5.1.9 was updated;
5.3.7 was updated
5.3.8 and 5.3.9 were added;
5.4 was updated;
The order of Clause 6, Information for use, and Clause 7, Verification of requirements, was swapped;
Annex A, List of significant hazards, was updated;
Annex ZA was updated;
the Bibliography was updated.

This document has been prepared under a standardization request addressed to CEN by the European Commission. The Standing Committee of the EFTA States subsequently approves these requests for its Member States.

For the relationship with EU Legislation, see informative Annex ZA, which is an integral part of this document.

EN 12312, Aircraft ground support equipment ― Specific requirements, consists of the following parts:

Part 1: Passenger stairs;
Part 2: Catering vehicles;
Part 3: Conveyor belt vehicles;
Part 4: Passenger boarding bridges;
Part 5: Aircraft fuelling equipment;
Part 6: Deicers and deicing/antiicing equipment;
Part 7: Aircraft movement equipment;
Part 8: Maintenance or service stairs and platforms;
Part 9: Container/Pallet loaders;
Part 10: Container/Pallet transfer transporters;
Part 11: Container/Pallet dollies and loose load trailers;
Part 12: Potable water service equipment;
Part 13: Lavatory service equipment;
Part 14: Disabled/incapacitated passenger boarding vehicles;
Part 15: Baggage and equipment tractors;
Part 16: Air start equipment;
Part 17: Air conditioning equipment;
Part 18: Nitrogen or Oxygen units;
Part 19: Aircraft jacks, axle jacks and hydraulic tail stanchions;
Part 20: Electrical ground power units.

Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.

According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organisations of the following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.

Introduction

This document specifies health and safety requirements, as well as some functional and performance requirements for ground power equipment intended for the electrical supply for aircraft to be used on all aircraft types commonly in service in civil air transport.

The minimum essential criteria are considered to be of primary importance in providing safe, serviceable, economical, and practical ground power equipment. Deviations from the recommended criteria should occur only after careful consideration, extensive testing, risk assessment and thorough service evaluation have shown alternative methods or conditions to be satisfactory. Such deviations are outside the scope of this document and a manufacturer should be able to demonstrate an equivalent level of protection.

This document is a Type C standard as stated in EN ISO 12100:2010.

The machinery concerned and the extent to which hazards, hazardous situations and events are covered are indicated in the scope of this document.

When provisions requirements of this type C standard are different from those which are stated in type A or B standards, the requirements of this type C standard take precedence over the requirements of the other standards, for machines that have been designed and built according to the requirements of this type C standard.

1 Scope

This document deals with all significant hazards, hazardous situations or hazardous events relevant for electrical ground power units as listed in Clause 4 and specifies the technical requirements to minimize the hazards which can arise during the commissioning, operation and maintenance of ground power equipment, when it is used as intended and under conditions of misuse which are reasonably foreseeable by the manufacturer or his authorized representative. It also takes into account some performance requirements recognized as essential by authorities, aircraft and ground support equipment (GSE) manufacturers as well as airlines and service companies.

This document is applicable to:

ground power units either self-propelled or towable;
ground power equipment when mounted on other GSE;
ground power accessories intended for ground power equipment (including accessories for fixed equipment).

This document does not apply to:

the electrical characteristics of the supply, the type of power supply system and related measures against contact;
any electrical supply system not intended for aircraft use;
the on-board electrical system of the aircraft.

This document does not specify requirements for noise and vibration.

Noise and vibration are dealt with respectively in EN 1915‑4:2004+A1:2009 and EN ISO 31915‑3:2026.

This document does not deal with hazards in respect to a standard automotive chassis and from other vehicles on the apron.

This part of EN 12312 does not apply to ground power equipment which is manufactured before the date of publication of this document by CEN.

This part of EN 12312 is intended to be used in conjunction with EN 1915‑1:2023, EN 1915‑2:2026, EN ISO 31915‑3:2026 (for vehicles) and EN 1915‑4:2004+A1:2009.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 List of hazards

5 Safety requirements and/or measures

5.1 General requirements

5.2 Power sources

5.3 Cables and connectors

5.4 Equipment fixed to passenger boarding bridges

5.5 Controls

6 Verification of requirements

7 Information for use

7.1 Marking

7.2 Safety marking

7.3 Instructions

Bibliography