IEC 61300-2-42:2014 specifies a test to determine the influence of a side load applied to a cord assembled with a strain relief. The intention is to simulate a static load, due to a length of fibre cable, which would typically be experienced during service. Components should withstand side loads during optical transmission without degradation of the optical performance. Besides a boot, any feature that controls the bending radius of the fibre can be considered as strain relief. This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition published in 2005 and constitutes a technical revision. This edition includes the following significant technical change with respect to the previous edition: modification of the severity according to cable configurations. Keywords: side load, static load, optical performance, strain relief