James asks this question, which is about Amendment 3 to BS 7671:2008 and compliant consumer units. It has been answered by the NICEIC (Theme – Regulations and Legislation):
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Question: Amendment 3 to BS 7671: 2008 specifies metal enclosures for consumer units.
I understand that there are more changes being considered for January 2016, so there is a case to delay fitting a metal-box consumer unit until these other changes are known. I am interested in ant insights into this line of thinking. Do you have any please?
Answer: The Amendment 3 regulations should be complied with as of 1st July 2015.
However, if you look at Regulation 421.1.201, Note 2, the requirements for non-combustible consumer units within domestic dwellings is not implemented until 1st January 2016, but does not preclude that regulation before that date.
This could be a consideration for compliance on work carried out now and would be the responsibility of the designer of the installation to be considered.
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