The mandatory colors for power wiring in the National Electrical Code (NEC) are Green, Bare, or Green/Yellow (a yellow stripe or band on green) for the protective ground (PG), and White (or alternatively Gray) for the neutral wire. The wiring color codes are the standard safety language of electricity. They make it easy to identify immediately which wires are live, neutral, or grounded (avoiding costly mistakes and hazardous accidents). This guide describes wiring color codes, international standards, and main rules to keep. Electrical engineers, contractors, traders, manufacturers, and especially electricians worldwide rely on different wiring color codes for wire and cable installations in industrial buildings and residential homes. This is a general reference, not a substitute for proper testing. If you need more detailed information, continue reading this article. For typical building AC circuits (commonly up to 600 volts nominal), the NEC specifies identification rules for grounded conductors (neutral), requirements. The IEC 60446 standard, “Basic and Safety Principles for Man-Machine Interface, Marking, and Identification,” establishes global guidelines for identifying electrical equipment terminals, conductors, and wiring colors.