Specifies requirements for product interoperability in the area of home and building automation systems, with sufficient detail needed to design interoperable Home Electronic System products. The widespread development of many national standard and proprietary networks within and to the home has necessitated a standard for interoperability among home system applications and products from multiple manufacturers. Where widely varying devices need to interoperate, it is desirable that they do so seamlessly to present a single, uniform network and hence to deliver a variety of applications. Examples of such applications are lighting control, environmental control, audio/video equipment control and home security.

Although a single uniform home control system would simplify operations, this standard recognises that multiple different networks may co-exist in the same house, and therefore applies to devices connected to a single home control system or to different home control systems. It ensures that, where applications on the same or dissimilar networks co-exist within premises and are required to interoperate, they will do so in a safe, reliable, predictable and consistent manner. It specifies requirements to assure that devices from multiple manufacturers work together to provide a specific application; a specific device could also be used for multiple applications. Interoperability requirements are given with respect to safety, addressing, applications, transport of information, management, and set-up of devices/elements within home networks - static and/or dynamic binding between objects.

This part defines the components of interoperability for the purpose of providing a framework within which subsequent parts of the standard will be drafted. This part applies to components within networks, between networks and located within dissimilar networks, as well as to devices located at the junction of dissimilar networks.