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chapter 1
The IEE
Regulations
chapter 2
Installation
Requirements
and
Characteristics
chapter 3
Installation
Control
and Protection
chapter 4
Cables,
Conduits
and Trunking
chapter 5
Earthing
chapter 6
Circuits
chapter 7
Special
Installations
chapter 8
Testing
and
Inspection
chapter 9
Data cabling
and Networks
Contents
The IEE Regulations, BS 7671, and this Guide
1.1 - This Electricians Guide
1.2 - The lEE Regulations
1.3 - The rationale for this guide
--------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.1 - International basis
1.2.2 - The Sixteenth Edition
1.2.3 - Plan of the Sixteenth Edition

The Sixteenth Edition
This latest Edition of the lEE Wiring Regulations was published in May 1991. It was permissible
to use the 15th Edition for installations put into service before January 1st, 1993. However, from
now onwards the 16th Edition must be used. The current trend is to move towards a set of wiring
regulations with world-wide application. IEC publication 364 'Electrical Installations of Buildings'
has been available for some time, and the 16th Edition is based on many of its parts. The
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) uses a similar pattern to
IEC 364 and to the Wiring Regulations.
The introduction of the Free European Market in 1993 might well have caused serious problems
for UK electrical contractors because whilst the lEE Wiring Regulations were held in high esteem,
they had no legal status which would require Continentals who were carrying out installation work
in the UK to abide by them. This difficulty was resolved in October 1992 when the lEE Wiring
Regulations became a British Standard, BS 7671, giving them the required international standing.
It does not follow that an agreed part of lEG 364 will automatically become part of the IEE Wiring
Regulations. For example, the lEE Wiring Regulations Committee is unable to agree with
international rules which allow the installation of sockets in bathrooms, and so sockets are not
allowed in these situations when we follow the 16th Edition.
BS 7671 recognises all harmonised standards (or Harmonised Documents, HDs) which have been
agreed by all member states of the European Union. BS EN standards are harmonised standards
based on harmonised documents and are published without addition to or deletion from the
original HDs. When a BS EN is published the relevant BS is superseded and is withdrawn. A
harmonised standard eg BS 7671, may have additions but not deletions, from the original
standard. lEG and CENELEC publications follow the pattern which will be shown in {1.2.3}, and it
is not always easy to find which Regulations apply to a given application. For example, if we need
to find the requirements for bonding, there is no set of Regulations with that title to which we can
turn. Instead, we need to consider five separate parts of the Regulations, which in this case are:
1 [Chapter 131 Regulation [130-04-01],
2 [Section 413] Regulations [413-02-15, 413-02-27 & 413-02-29],
3 [Section 514] Regulation [514-13-01],
4 [Section 541] complete, and
5 [Section 547] complete.
The question arises 'how do we know where to look for all these different Regulations'? The
answer is two-fold. First, the Regulations themselves have a good index. Second, this
Electrician's Guide also has a useful index, from which the applicable sub-section can be found.
At the top of each sub-section is a list of all applicable Regulations.

to the 16th Edition IEE Regulations
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The detail applying to a particular set of circumstances is thus spread in a number of parts of the
Regulations, and the overall picture can only be appreciated after considering all these separate
pieces of information. This Guide is particularly useful in drawing all this information together.

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Extracted from The Electricians Guide Fifth Edition
by John Whitfield
Published by EPA Press Click Here to order your Copy
Click here for list of abbreviations