We mourn the passing of Karl-Ludwig Orth

Karl-Ludwig Orth was a visionary who dedicated himself to international and European standardization. His tireless efforts were appreciated and recognized by everyone and it was therefore only logical that he was the first to receive the IEC's highest award, the Lord Kelvin Award. 

Karl-Ludwig Orth had a global network at his disposal, which he used for the benefit of the general public. He played an active role in shaping standardization and was instrumental in the development of the European Union and the single market.

With his great foresight, he saw that standardization, conformity assessment and occupational health and safety must be interlinked and must not develop side by side. Accordingly, he was in great demand as an advisor in numerous international, European and national committees as well as in politics. It was particularly important to him to convince politicians that standardization and the voluntary conformity assessment systems of IEC and CENELEC reduce the burden on the state and reduce bureaucracy and thus make a decisive contribution to the dismantling of trade barriers in the sense of the WTO-TBT.

Karl-Ludwig Orth was active for the DKE from its foundation in 1970 until his retirement in 1996. With his appointment as the first Managing Director of DKE, he was also one of the Managing Directors of VDE and a deputy member of the DIN Executive Board.

Karl-Ludwig Orth left his mark on electrotechnical standardization like no other and was always held in high esteem, not only by his colleagues. We will honor his memory. Our condolences go to his relatives.
 

DKE Management