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To: All customers
From: Jim Bartl, Director of Code Enforcement
RE: 2014 NC Electrical Code effective date
In the NC Building Code Council (BCC) meeting of December 15, the Council adopted the new 2014 NC Electrical Code. In doing so, the BCC set an effective date of April 1, 2016, subject to the NC Rule Review Commission offering no changes to the BCC approved 2014 NC Electrical Code.
Department policy on the transition period as applied to the 2014 NC Electrical Code
The Department maintains a code transition policy dating to 1997, which allows a 90-day grace period for projects under review, provided they gain a permit within 90 days of the code effective date. We will apply this policy to the new 2014 NC Electrical Code. Consequently, projects with permit applications prior to April 1, 2016 may use the current 2011 NC Electrical Code, provided they gain a permit by June 30, 2016. All other projects must use the new 2014 NC Electrical Code for project permit applications on or after April 1, 2016.
The Department’s 1997 policy provides two exceptions to the above transition period, which also apply here:
• Exception 1: if a project requires lengthy review by City, State or Federal agencies, the
Code Enforcement Director or his designee will select the appropriate year code to apply
to the project.
• Exception 2: if a project is multi-phased, with construction time in excess of twelve (12)
months, the applicable year code will be selected by the Code Enforcement Director or his
designee at the preliminary code review meeting.
It is very important that professionals monitor their work closely to carefully determine when a project’s design basis must switch to the new 2014 NC Electrical Code to comply with the above transition period and the Department’s related policy. While state law requires us to issue a permit on any project compliant with the effective code, the burden is on the owner’s team to estimate when your permit will be issued. Projects not covered by Exception 1 or Exception 2 above, and not permitted by June 30, 2016, must comply with the 2014 NC Electrical Code, regardless of when they entered the system for permitting.
Feel free to contact me, Director of Plan Review & Permitting Patrick Granson or Electrical Code Administrator Gary Mullis, if you have questions on the 2014 NC Electrical Code effective dates.
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