IEC 60825-12 provides requirements and specific guidance for the manufacture and safe use of laser products and systems used for point-to-point or point-to-multipoint free space optical data transmission. This standard only addresses the open beam portion of the system. If portions of the equipment or system incorporate optical fibre that extends from the confinements of the enclosure(s), the manufacturing and safety requirements under IEC 60825-1 apply to those portions only. This standard does not apply to systems designed for purposes of transmitting optical power for applications such as material processing or medical treatment. This standard also does not apply to the use of systems in explosive atmospheres. The objective of this part of IEC 60825 is to: - provide information to protect people from potentially hazardous optical radiation produced by free space optical communication systems (FSOCS) by specifying engineering controls and requirements, administrative controls and work practices according to the degree of the hazard; - specify requirements for manufacturing, installation, service and operating organisations in order to establish procedures and provide written information so that proper precautions can be adopted.