Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) Explained, Section by Section

An Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) is the BS 7671 certificate for new work: a new installation, an addition or alteration that introduces a new circuit, or a replacement consumer unit or distribution board. The Amendment 4 model form, dated 15 April 2026, runs from Section A to Section J and carries three declarations in Section C: design, construction, and inspection and testing. Its own notes say it is only valid if the schedule of inspections has been completed and the schedules of circuit details and test results are attached. This guide goes through the form section by section, in the order you fill it in on a job.

What is an Electrical Installation Certificate and when is one required?

Regulation 641.1 of BS 7671 requires every installation to be inspected and tested during erection and on completion, before it is put into service. Regulation 644.1 then requires an EIC, based on the model in Appendix 6, to be provided once that verification is complete. The EIC is the written record that the work was verified and found to comply.

The notes printed with the Amendment 4 model form give its uses: the initial certification of a new installation, an addition or alteration where one or more new circuits have been introduced, and the replacement of a consumer unit or distribution board. It can also cover several small additions or alterations on one certificate in place of a stack of Minor Works certificates. The same notes say it is not to be used for periodic inspection and testing, which needs an EICR.

An EIC is always acceptable for small work. A Minor Works certificate for a new circuit never is. For the boundary cases see EICR vs EIC vs Minor Works and Minor Works certificate: when to use it. The one-paragraph version for customers is in what an EIC is.

What is in each section of the Amendment 4 model EIC?

The IET's Amendment 4 model form is lettered A to J. Scheme pads and software lay it out differently, but the content should map onto the same ten sections.

Section B deserves more care than it usually gets. The extent is what your signature covers, and every declaration ends by limiting your liability to the work described. "Rewire" tells nobody anything. "Full rewire of ground and first floor, 10 final circuits from new consumer unit in under-stairs cupboard; garage sub-main existing and not altered" tells the next inspector exactly where your work stops.

Who signs the design, construction, and inspection and testing declarations?

BS 7671 does not license anyone to sign. Part 6 requires certificates to be compiled and signed, or otherwise authenticated, by skilled persons competent to verify that the requirements have been met. The form then splits the responsibility three ways. Each signatory certifies, having exercised reasonable skill and care, that the work they were responsible for is to the best of their knowledge and belief in accordance with BS 7671:2018, amended to a date they write in, except for any departures listed.

On most domestic and small commercial jobs one electrician does all three. The notes on the form deal with that directly: a signatory authorised to certify more than one category of work signs in each of the appropriate places. The IET's model forms page lists one EIC for each edition and no separate short form, although the notes acknowledge that a single-signature EIC may be used. In practice those come from scheme providers, whose domestic certificates fold the three declarations into one. They ask for the same information and the same schedules.

Three points catch people out on jobs with more than one party.

Design is yours more often than you think. If nobody handed you cable calculations and a device schedule, you chose the cable and the breaker, so you are the designer. Cable sizing and volt drop covers what that signature takes on.

Do not sign for a design you did not do. Where a consultant or a kitchen company's designer specified the circuits, they sign the design declaration. The form has a Designer No 1 and a Designer No 2 for mutual responsibility, such as a consultant's distribution design and a contractor's final-circuit design.

The inspector needs the design information. Regulation 641.2 requires the assessment of general characteristics and the diagrams, charts and schedules to be made available to whoever inspects and tests. An inspector who has no maximum Zs figures or design currents to verify against is only measuring. Where the inspector works for a larger firm, Qualified Supervisor sign-off explains who authorises what.

The form also has boxes for departures (Regulations 120.3, 133.1.2, 133.1.3 and 133.5) and for permitted exceptions under Regulation 411.3.3, with a tick to confirm the risk assessment is attached. A departure is a deliberate design decision that gives a degree of safety not less than compliance would. It is not somewhere to park a defect. The 411.3.3 exception, leaving 30 mA RCD protection off a socket-outlet on the strength of a documented risk assessment, is not available in a dwelling.

How do you fill in the supply characteristics and installation particulars?

Sections F and G describe the origin. Every figure in them should be something you measured or inspected on this job, because every circuit calculation rests on them.

Two habits are worth keeping. First, measure Ze and Ipf even when the previous certificate is on the table. Supplies get altered, and a copied 0.35 Ω is the first thing an assessor spots. Second, a TT electrode reading above 200 Ω may not be stable, as the note to Table 41.5 warns, so say so in the remarks and improve it if you can.

What goes in the schedule of inspections?

Section H is the record of the inspection that Regulation 642.1 says must precede testing, normally with the installation disconnected. On the model EIC it runs to 14 items.

Each item gets an outcome or N/A. There is no column for C1, C2 or C3, because the EIC is not a condition report: a defect found in new work is put right before the certificate is issued. Mark N/A honestly. A new shower circuit in a house with no PV has nothing to say under item 14.0, but it does have something to say under item 12.0, and bathroom zones under Section 701 covers what to look at.

What must the schedules of circuit details and test results show?

The model schedules number their columns 1 to 31: columns 1 to 16 are circuit details and 17 to 31 are test results. The header of each sheet identifies the distribution board and asks for Zdb, Ipf at the board, confirmation of supply polarity and phase sequence, and confirmation that any SPD shows as operational. It also asks for the serial or asset numbers of the instruments used.

Test in the Section 643 order: continuity of conductors (643.2), insulation resistance (643.3), polarity (643.6), automatic disconnection of supply (643.7), additional protection (643.8), phase sequence (643.9), functional testing (643.10) and, where needed, verification of volt drop (643.11). Dead tests come first for a reason: an energised circuit with no cpc continuity is how people get hurt during commissioning.

Every circuit covered by the certificate gets a row, and every row is complete. On a board change that means every circuit you reconnected, not only the ones you touched. How to fill in a schedule of test results goes through the columns one at a time.

What do you write under comments on the existing installation?

Section I applies whenever the work is an addition or alteration. Regulation 644.1.2 requires defects found in the existing installation to be recorded on the certificate, and Regulation 132.16 requires you to confirm, before you start, that the existing equipment, earthing and bonding are adequate for the altered circumstances.

That splits what you find into two groups. Anything your work depends on is put right before you certify: missing main bonding to the gas, an undersized earthing conductor, a Ze too high for the disconnection times. Anything unrelated is written in Section I and reported to the customer: no RCD protection on circuits you did not touch, a lighting circuit with no cpc, a cracked accessory in another room. Useful entries are specific, for example "Upstairs lighting circuit has no cpc; Class II fittings only; advise rewire". If you found nothing, write "none observed". A blank box reads as though nobody looked.

What interval do you recommend for the first periodic inspection?

Section D reads: "I/We, the designer(s), recommend that this installation is further inspected and tested after an interval of not more than ... years/months." The notes say the interval must be inserted, that it should take account of the frequency and quality of maintenance the installation can expect, and that it should be agreed between the designer, the installer and other relevant parties.

IET Guidance Note 3 gives the recommended maximums most designers start from.

These are maximums. A workshop full of dust, or a rented house with a history of DIY alterations, can justify less. For a new-build or completely rewired rental in England, the GOV.UK guidance accepts the EIC in place of an EICR for five years from its date. How often an EICR is required has the full list.

How does the EIC change with the type of job?

Job-specific detail is in the guides for consumer unit replacement, electric showers, EV chargers under Section 722 and solar PV under Section 712.

Who gets the EIC and how long do you keep your copy?

The original goes to the person who ordered the work and you keep a duplicate. The guidance for recipients printed with the form adds four things worth telling the customer:

• If they ordered the work but do not own the installation, they should pass the certificate, or a full copy including the schedules, to the owner immediately.
• The original should be kept in a safe place and shown to anyone who later inspects or works on the installation.
• On a project covered by the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations, a copy with its schedules goes into the health and safety documentation.
• RCDs, and AFDDs that have a manual test facility, should be tested six-monthly with the test button, and SPD status indicators should be checked.

In England and Wales the EIC is not the Building Regulations certificate. For notifiable work in a dwelling, a registered electrician notifies through the scheme within 30 days of completion and the customer receives a separate compliance certificate. Part P notification covers what is notifiable.

For your own copy, six years is the minimum NICEIC's scheme rules set, and 15 years is the safer figure for work in dwellings completed after 28 June 2022, because that is how long a Defective Premises Act claim can now run. Certificate retention and GDPR sets out the reasoning. A lost EIC can only be replaced from the issuer's duplicate. Nobody else can reissue it, and an EICR by another electrician reports the condition today without certifying the original work.

What did Amendment 4 change, and which edition goes in the declaration?

BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 was published on 15 April 2026 and the IET's model forms carry that date. The purpose and structure of the EIC are unchanged. Two details matter when you fill it in: the earthing arrangement options now list TN-C-S (PME) and TN-C-S (PNB) separately, where the Amendment 2 form had a single TN-C-S box, and the form set now includes a generic schedule for supplementary protective equipotential bonding inspection and test results.

Amendment 2, as amended by Amendment 3, is withdrawn on 15 October 2026. Each declaration certifies compliance with BS 7671:2018 "amended to" a date you write in, so the form records which edition the job was designed to. NICEIC's Amendment 4 guidance is that newly designed work from that date is certified to Amendment 4, and that work designed earlier may be completed to the previous standard even if it finishes afterwards. Match the declaration to the design, and check which edition your pads or software cite. Digital vs paper certificates covers the changeover.

The model forms can be downloaded free from the IET. Its terms allow you to copy and electronically adapt them for use in your own electrical contracting business, but not to resell blank forms or to reproduce the IET logo on your copies.

What are the common EIC mistakes?

Scheme assessors sample issued certificates, and incomplete schedules are among the first things they check. How to become NICEIC registered describes what is looked at on the day.

How Certio helps

Certio produces the EICR, EIC, Minor Works certificate and PAT records on the BS 7671 model forms and turns them into branded PDFs. Photograph the consumer unit and the circuit schedule drafts itself; point the phone camera at a Megger MFT-X1 and the reading goes straight into the schedule of test results, or dictate it while your hands stay on the probes. Suggested observation wording with the regulation reference is there for you to check and confirm. The judgement stays yours; the typing goes. Starter is free for 7 days, then £4.99 a month.

Written by the Certio team. Last checked 8 October 2026.