This type of specification is always covered by the standards the mating devices are covered under and may depend on the size and ratings of the individual style of the connector. For instance, IEC 60320-1 lists requirements for insertion/retention forces for its family of appliance couplers and connectors. The values in this standard are good only for these types of connectors.

There are two sets of criteria in the standard: one for devices from 0.2 to 10 A and a second for the larger 16-A connection devices. These specifications are further divided into a multipin and a single-pin specification. Devices up to 10 A are specified to have a multipin maximum insertion/retention force of 50 N and a single-pin minimum of 1.5 N. The 16-A devices are 60 and 2 N, respectively. This information is found in section 16 of the IEC 60320-1 standard. Other standards have their own requirements and would need to be researched in order to find out the values and how the requirements are laid out.