EN ISO 8100-1:2026: What Changes for Lift Companies

By Nutan Mandal, ElevatorPlus · Published 13 August · Last updated 13 August · ~10 min read · Compliance reviewed by Mr. Sumeet Katariya

In short: EN ISO 8100-1:2026 and EN ISO 8100-2:2026 supersede EN 81-20:2020 and EN 81-50:2020. That much is settled. Almost everything else being written about the transition is off: the publication date being circulated does not correspond to any real event, and as of August 2026 neither standard has been cited in the Official Journal, which means neither one yet confers presumption of conformity under the Lifts Directive.

Key takeaways

• There is no single publication date. ISO published both parts on 27 March 2026. CEN approved the European versions on 1 March 2026. The EN documents carry a June 2026 date. BSI published the British adoption on 30 June 2026. Any article giving one date without saying which event it means is guessing.
• Part 1 replaces EN 81-20:2020. Part 2 replaces EN 81-50:2020. Not the other way round, and Part 2 does not replace EN 81-20. That error is circulating widely.
• They are not yet cited in the Official Journal. The most recent EU harmonised standards listing under Directive 2014/33/EU dates from 25 November 2025. Until citation, EN 81-20:2020 and EN 81-50:2020 remain the only cited harmonised standards for lifts.
• The coexistence window is long. The European foreword to Part 1 gives a date of publication of December 2026 and a date of withdrawal of June 2029 for conflicting national standards. Month precision only; CEN did not publish days.
• The changes people talk about are mostly not the changes that happened. Unintended car movement dimensions did not change. There is no new glass strength rule and no new lux values. What did arrive is a mandatory daily brake self-check, reduced-stroke buffers at any speed, the abolition of PESSRAL, and a cybersecurity reference.

What this guide covers: why most published summaries cite a superseded standard · the five real dates · what replaces what · the Official Journal gap · the technical changes that are actually sourced · the changes that are not · what to do about it · FAQs.

Most of what is written about this is still describing EN 81-20

Run the searches a European lift company would run in August 2026. Standards for lift construction. Safety rules for passenger lifts. Lift compliance Europe. The top results describe EN 81-20:2020 and EN 81-50:2020 as current.

They are superseded. They have been since June.

This is a specific and slightly awkward category of wrong. The superseded standards are not irrelevant, because of the Official Journal position set out below, which makes the sloppy content accidentally half-right and therefore harder to correct. But a company writing its technical file today against EN 81-20 alone, with no view of what the successor requires, is building on a document with a published withdrawal date.

We are not exempt from this. An internal brief on our side carried 2 July 2026 as the publication date for both parts. It is not a real date for any event in the standard's history. It appears to trace back to 2 July 2025, the FDIS registration in the ISO record, one year out and attached to the wrong milestone entirely. It sat in our notes until we checked it properly. Corrected below, along with everything else.

Five dates, and the one being circulated is not among them

The reason the date question is a mess is that there are genuinely several dates, they are weeks apart, and different audiences care about different ones.

The dop and dow come straight from the European foreword to Part 1: the standard is to be given national standard status at the latest by December 2026, and conflicting national standards are to be withdrawn at the latest by June 2029. That is a thirty-six month coexistence period running from June 2026, which matches how the European Lift Association has described the transition.

CEN published months, not days. Anyone writing "30 June 2029" has invented the day.

One caution on the national level. Coexistence at CEN does not mean every national catalogue keeps the old entries. Estonia has already withdrawn EVS-EN 81-50:2020 with effect from 1 July 2026, the same day EVS-EN ISO 8100-2:2026 became valid. What survives until the dow is the conformity basis, not necessarily the national listing.

What replaces what

This is simple, and it still gets reported wrongly.

EN ISO 8100-1:2026 is titled "Lifts for the transport of persons and goods — Part 1: Safety rules for the construction and installation of passenger and goods passenger lifts (ISO 8100-1:2026, including corrected version 2026-05)". Its title page carries the line "Supersedes EN 81-20:2020", and its European foreword repeats it: "This document supersedes EN 81-20:2020."

EN ISO 8100-2:2026 is titled "Lifts for the transport of persons and goods — Part 2: Design rules, calculations, verifications and tests of lift components (ISO 8100-2:2026)". It pairs with EN 81-50:2020.

Two traps in those titles.

The Part 1 title includes the parenthetical about the corrected version 2026-05. Drop it and the citation is incomplete. And Part 2 says "verifications", where EN 81-50:2020 said "examinations". The change is deliberate rather than editorial; per the European Lift Association, what was called type examination is now referred to as verification. Several published summaries have carried the old word into the new title.

The numbering history is worth knowing because it explains why this looks confusing. EN 81-20 and EN 81-50 in their 2014 editions were adopted by ISO as ISO 8100-1:2019 and ISO 8100-2:2019. Europe never adopted those 2019 editions back, because Europe already had the ENs. ISO/TC 178 and CEN/TC 10 then revised them jointly, producing Edition 2 in March 2026, and CEN adopted that text into Europe without modification. ISO 8100-1:2019 and ISO 8100-2:2019 were formally withdrawn on 27 March 2026, the same day.

So the standard went from Europe to ISO and back again over seven years. The one substantive difference between the ISO and EN versions is Annex ZA, which maps the clauses to the essential health and safety requirements of the Lifts Directive and is not part of the ISO publication.

That annex is the whole point of the European version. Which brings us to the part that has not happened.

The part that has not happened: the Official Journal

Annex ZA gives a standard the machinery to confer presumption of conformity. It does not confer it. Citation in the Official Journal of the European Union does that.

As of 12 August 2026, EN ISO 8100-1:2026 and EN ISO 8100-2:2026 have not been cited. The European Commission's harmonised standards page for lifts lists every publication under Directive 2014/33/EU, and the most recent is the amendment of 25 November 2025 to Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/76. There is no 2026 implementing decision under the Lifts Directive. The two implementing decisions published in 2026 that surface in searches concern sterilisers and steam boilers, and in vitro diagnostics.

The practical consequence is blunt. Until citation, EN 81-20:2020 and EN 81-50:2020 remain the only harmonised standards giving presumption of conformity for lifts. A manufacturer that switches its technical file wholesale to EN ISO 8100 today has moved off the cited basis and onto a route that requires it to demonstrate conformity another way.

The European Lift Association expects citation during 2026, at which point both sets would confer presumption of conformity for the duration of the coexistence period. That is an expectation, not a fact, and it can change on any Official Journal publication date. Anyone reading this after August 2026 should check the Commission's lifts page before relying on the position above.

👉 Tracking which standard each unit was certified against? Start from our free lift service checklist and breakdown report templates →

What actually changed in the text

The detail below comes from the European Lift Association's published comparison of EN ISO 8100-1/2:2026 against EN 81-20/50:2020. It is an authoritative industry source rather than the standard text itself, so treat it as ELA's reading and buy the standard before designing against any clause.

The scope narrowed. Clause 1 now covers indoor and weather-protected lifts only. Wind loading has gone.

PESSRAL is abolished. It is replaced by SIL-rated circuits, which extends SIL to electric and electronic circuits without a computer in them. Anyone whose documentation is organised around the PESSRAL concept has a renaming exercise at minimum.

Reduced-stroke buffers are no longer limited by speed. EN 81-20 allowed them only on lifts with a rated speed of at least 2.5 m/s. The speed limit has been removed.

The machine brake picked up a self-check obligation. Clause 4.9.2.2.2.3 g requires either automatic detection of maximum brake lining wear, or automatic static verification of the brake's holding capability at least once every day. That is a daily automated test on new installations, and it has implications for how a service company reads a fault log.

An automatic rescue operation is now specified, optionally, moving the car to a landing on power failure or supply loss, with stopping accuracy of plus or minus 20 mm.

The overload threshold is now the rated load exceeded by 10 per cent, with the 75 kg alternative deleted. The well-to-sill gap comes down from 0.15 m to 0.12 m. The EMC references move from EN 12015 and EN 12016 to EN ISO 8102-1 and EN ISO 8102-2. Vertically sliding doors are specified for the first time, for goods passenger lifts only, aligning with the North American codes.

And cybersecurity has entered the standard. Interface components connecting to external equipment are to comply with ISO 8102-20:2022, added to cover the essential requirement on protection against corruption in the Machinery Regulation.

That last one is the change with the longest tail for anyone running remote connectivity on a lift.

What did not change, despite the claims

This section exists because the secondary coverage has been unreliable, and the confident-sounding claims are the ones to check.

Unintended car movement. The stopping distances are unchanged. ELA states it plainly: no change in dimensions. What did change is peripheral, namely a clarification of when a full UCM protection means is required, and a rule that it may not act on the newly permitted non-steel suspension means. Do not read a tightening into this.

Glass. Two changes only. Glass door markings have been revised and aligned with other glass parts, and the 150 N door-opening force limiter that previously applied only to glass panels now applies to all panel types. Nothing on glass strength, pendulum impact, thickness or lamination.

Lighting. There are no new lux values anywhere. Not in the car, the well, the pit, the machinery space or the landings, and no emergency lighting duration. The only lighting-adjacent content is a mechanical strength requirement for luminaires. Any article citing changed lighting levels is unsourced.

Remote monitoring. There is no remote monitoring, IoT or remote diagnostics content in EN ISO 8100-1. What exists is easy to misreport: "alarm" is now "alert", and two-way communication is delegated to EN 81-28:2026 through Annex ZA rather than specified in 8100-1. An 80 dB(A) acoustic device is permitted as an alternative only where the Lifts Directive does not apply, which for lifts permanently serving buildings in the EU means it is not an option. The defensible digital angle is the ISO 8102-20 cybersecurity reference, not remote monitoring.

Car door locking. Test refinements and a new clause on door opening and locking sequences. No new locking mandate.

What a service company should actually do about it

Five things, in order of how soon they bite.

Stop citing EN 81-20:2020 as current in marketing, tender responses and technical documentation. It is superseded even though it remains the cited harmonised standard, and the two facts sit uncomfortably together in any document that has to survive a customer's compliance review.

Watch the Official Journal, not the standards catalogue. The citation date is the date that changes what a manufacturer may claim.

Work out which of your units were certified against which standard, and record it against the unit rather than the contract. Over a thirty-six month coexistence period a portfolio will contain both, and the answer to "which standard does this lift comply with" will be different for two lifts in the same building.

Check what the daily brake verification requirement means for your callback triage. A self-checking brake generates events. Events reach a service desk. Someone has to know which ones are informational.

And if you write technical content, source it. The published summaries of this transition have been poor enough that copying them forward is a real risk.

Frequently asked questions

When was EN ISO 8100-1:2026 published?

There is no single date. ISO published ISO 8100-1:2026 on 27 March 2026. CEN approved the European Standard on 1 March 2026. The EN document itself carries a June 2026 date, and BSI published the British adoption on 30 June 2026. The date 2 July 2026, which circulates widely, does not correspond to any of these events.

Does EN ISO 8100-1:2026 replace EN 81-20:2020?

Yes. The title page of EN ISO 8100-1:2026 carries the line "Supersedes EN 81-20:2020", and the European foreword repeats it. EN ISO 8100-2:2026 pairs with EN 81-50:2020, not with EN 81-20.

Are EN ISO 8100-1:2026 and 8100-2:2026 harmonised standards under the Lifts Directive?

Not yet. As of August 2026 they have not been cited in the Official Journal of the European Union. The most recent listing under Directive 2014/33/EU is the amendment of 25 November 2025 to Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/76. Until citation, EN 81-20:2020 and EN 81-50:2020 remain the cited standards conferring presumption of conformity.

When are EN 81-20:2020 and EN 81-50:2020 withdrawn?

The European foreword to EN ISO 8100-1:2026 gives a date of withdrawal for conflicting national standards of June 2029, with national adoption due by December 2026. CEN published month precision only. Some national bodies have moved faster; Estonia withdrew its adoption of EN 81-50:2020 with effect from 1 July 2026.

What is the relationship between ISO 8100-1:2019 and EN ISO 8100-1:2026?

ISO 8100-1:2019 was ISO's adoption of EN 81-20:2014. It was withdrawn on 27 March 2026 and revised by ISO 8100-1:2026, which CEN then adopted into Europe without modification as EN ISO 8100-1:2026.

Did unintended car movement requirements change?

The stopping distances did not change. According to the European Lift Association's comparison, the dimensions are unchanged. What changed is the clarified scope of when a full protection means is required, and a rule preventing it from acting on the newly permitted non-steel suspension means.

What is the biggest new requirement for new installations?

On the ELA reading, the machine brake provision. Clause 4.9.2.2.2.3 g requires either automatic detection of maximum brake lining wear or automatic static verification of the brake's holding capability at least once every day.

Does the new standard say anything about cybersecurity?

Yes. Interface components to external equipment are to be in accordance with ISO 8102-20:2022, which is new relative to EN 81-20 and was added to address the requirement on protection against corruption in Regulation (EU) 2023/1230.

The bottom line

The transition is real, the coexistence period is long, and the reporting on it has been bad enough that the safest assumption about any summary, including this one, is to check the primary document before acting.

Two things are worth carrying away. The standard changed in March and June 2026 depending on which body you are citing, and the Official Journal has not yet caught up, so the superseded standards are still the ones conferring presumption of conformity. And the changes that matter to a service business are not the ones being written about. A daily automated brake verification and a cybersecurity reference will shape more service desks over the next five years than anything anyone has said about glass.

👉 See how a per-unit compliance record handles two standards running in parallel. Book a demo →

Related reading

• Elevator service software built for European contractors
• EU Energy Efficiency Compliance in 2026 for Lift Contractors
• Lift Safety Regulations: What Operators Are Actually Required To Do
• Europe's Fragmented Lift Markets: Italy and Spain in 2026

About the author. Nutan Mandal writes on lift regulation and compliance for ElevatorPlus, the Elevator Business Operating System used by 200+ elevator companies across 20+ countries. Compliance reviewed by Mr. Sumeet Katariya.

Sources: ISO 8100-1:2026 · ISO 8100-2:2026 · ISO 8100-1:2019, withdrawn · BS EN ISO 8100-1:2026 preview, title page and European foreword (PDF) · EVS-EN ISO 8100-2:2026, Estonian Centre for Standardisation · European Lift Association, comparison of EN ISO 8100-1/2 with EN 81-20/50 (PDF) · European Commission, harmonised standards for lifts · Directive 2014/33/EU on lifts and safety components for lifts · Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 on machinery, consolidated text

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