In brief
Ask any office, practice or school whether it has an electrical certificate of compliance and the answer is almost always yes. It is in a file somewhere, usually from when the building was bought, built or let. The Electrical Installation Regulations, 2009 require every user or lessor of an electrical installation to hold a valid certificate of compliance for it, with a test report, and to produce it to an inspector on request. [1][2] What the regulations do not do is give the certificate an expiry date. Instead, the certificate stops covering the installation the moment the installation changes: any addition or alteration needs a certificate for at least the new work. [1][2] So the question an inspector, an insurer or a buyer will eventually ask is not whether you have a certificate. It is whether the certificate you have still describes the installation you are using.
What the regulations require
The Electrical Installation Regulations, 2009 were published under the Occupational Health and Safety Act as Government Notice R242 in Government Gazette 31975 on 06 March 2009, and took effect on 01 May 2009. [1][2] The duties that matter to an ordinary employer are short.
- Responsibility. The user or lessor of an electrical installation is responsible for its safety, safe use and maintenance (regulation 2(1)). Where a user or lessor and a lessee agree in writing that the lessee takes on that responsibility, the lessee becomes responsible as if it were the user or lessor (regulation 2(3)). [1]
- The certificate. Every user or lessor must have a valid certificate of compliance for each electrical installation, in the prescribed form and accompanied by a test report (regulation 7(1)), and must produce it on request to an inspector, a supplier or an approved inspection authority (regulation 7(2)). [1][2]
- Older installations. An installation that existed before 23 October 1992 is exempt from regulation 7(1) only if there has been no change of ownership since 01 March 1994. If such an installation is added to or altered, a certificate is needed for the whole installation. [1][2]
- Additions and alterations. Where an installation already has a certificate and is altered or extended, the user or lessor must obtain a certificate covering at least the addition or alteration (regulation 7(4)). [1][2]
- Change of ownership. The user or lessor may not allow a change of ownership if the certificate is older than two years (regulation 7(5)). [1][2][3] This is the only place a period of time appears, and it applies to a transfer, not to ordinary use.
- Defects. An inspector, an approved inspection authority or the supplier who finds a fault may require the user or lessor to obtain a new certificate, and a circuit that is an immediate danger must be disconnected (regulation 7(7)). [1]
- Who may sign. Only a registered person may issue a certificate of compliance, only after inspection and testing, and only with the test report attached (regulation 9). No person may amend a certificate. [1][2] Electrical contractors must register annually (regulation 6(2)), and a registered person must produce proof of registration to an inspector on request (regulation 11). [1][2]
- Penalty. Contravening regulation 7 or 9, among others, is an offence carrying a fine or imprisonment of up to 12 months. [1]
Why a certificate with no expiry date goes stale
Most compliance documents announce their own expiry. A first aid certificate, a lifting machine inspection or a medical surveillance cycle has a date on it, and the date is what gets diarised. The certificate of compliance has a date of issue and nothing else. It remains valid for as long as the installation it describes remains unchanged, and the regulations make the user or lessor responsible for knowing when that stops being true. [1]
In a working office, practice or school, the installation is rarely unchanged for long. Each of these is, in our reading, an addition or alteration within regulation 7(4): a new circuit for an air conditioner, a dedicated supply for a server cupboard or medical equipment, a new distribution board in a refitted suite, a backup power installation added during load shedding. Each needs its own certificate, issued by a registered person, for the new work. [1][2] Where none was issued, the certificate in the file is genuine, correctly dated and no longer complete.
The Department has said as much in its own words. In October 2025 its Free State office reported a rise in complaints from new homeowners about non-compliant installations even where a certificate had been issued at transfer, and warned that a registered contractor may never issue a certificate on behalf of an unregistered person. [5] Conveyancing practitioners report the same pattern from the property side: a seller who relies on a certificate that turns out to be wrong is exposed to claims even where an electrician was appointed. [4] That notice and that commentary concern property transfers; we cite them for what they show about certificates, not as evidence about workplaces.
What inspectors are finding
Electrical installations recur in the published findings of South African inspection operations. These are the operations on our Blitz Tracker where electrical defects were named.
- Bhamshela, Ndwedwe, KwaZulu-Natal, October 2025: prohibition notices on wholesalers and shops, some of which "did not have proper electrical installations, which pose fire risks". Single sourced. [6]
- Newcastle Industrial Park, KwaZulu-Natal, February 2026: a factory prohibited from operating for unsafe electrical installations, among other findings. Two independent press groups. [7][8]
- Hillbrow, Johannesburg, August 2026: prohibition notices citing, among other things, exposed electrical distribution boards. Single sourced. [9]
- Ekurhuleni, September 2026: concerns about electrical installation compliance at a manufacturer. Single sourced. [10]
The pattern is not limited to factories. In February 2026 inspectors served a prohibition notice on a Bloemfontein primary school, reported to include exposed electrical wiring and water leaking around electrical fixtures. [11]
The international cross reference
On 22 October 2026 an electrical contractor in England was fined GBP 20,000 with costs of GBP 15,239 at Warrington Magistrates' Court under section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It had issued electrical safety certificates for two car washes stating that their installations were safe; a specialist HSE inspector found that the details on the certificates did not match the installations on site, and both remained dangerous. [12] This is reported by the regulator alone and we treat the detail as provisional. The point for a South African reader does not depend on it: a certificate is evidence of an inspection, and it is only as good as the inspection and the registration behind it.
Five questions for your own premises
1. Where is the certificate of compliance for each installation you use, and does it carry the test report? A certificate without its test report is not in the prescribed form. [1]
2. What has been added or altered since it was issued, and is there a certificate for each addition? [1][2]
3. Who is the user or lessor for your premises under your lease, and is there a written undertaking under regulation 2(3) that makes you responsible? Read the lease before assuming the building handles it. [1]
4. Who signed each certificate, and were they a registered person, with a contractor registration current at the time? [1][2]
5. When an inspector asks for it, can you produce it today, not after a week of searching? Regulation 7(2) says on request. [1]
GRC Shop view
This section is interpretation, kept separate from the sourced facts above.
The certificate of compliance is the cleanest example we know of a compliance file that is genuinely in order on the day it is made and quietly out of date a year later. Nobody did anything wrong. A contractor added a circuit, the invoice went to accounts, and the certificate for the new work, if there was one, went into an email thread rather than the file. The original certificate still reads clean. The file no longer matches the building.
That is not neglect. It is that nothing ties the change to the record. Compliance files go stale. Our system keeps yours current: the OHS app holds each certificate against the installation it covers, so the question of what has changed since it was issued has somewhere to be answered.
The same logic applies to every tenant who assumes the landlord holds the certificate. Sometimes the landlord does. The regulations let the parties decide, in writing, and an employer who has never read that clause of the lease does not yet know which file is theirs.
Get a quote for the OHS app.
Abbreviations
- GBP: Pound sterling
- HSE: Health and Safety Executive (Great Britain)
- OHS: Occupational Health and Safety
References
[1] Department of Employment and Labour, "Electrical Installation Regulations, 2009, Government Notice R242, Government Gazette 31975", 06 Mar 2009. https://www.labour.gov.za/DocumentCenter/Regulations%20and%20Notices/Regulations/Occupational%20Health%20and%20Safety/eir2009.pdf
[2] Electrical Contracting Board of South Africa, "Electrical Installation Regulations, 2009" (gazette text as republished), 06 Mar 2009. https://ecb.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Electrical-Installation-Regulations-2009.pdf
[3] Yolanda Barnard Attorneys, "Electrical certificates of compliance and why you need one", 21 May 2020. https://www.yb-law.co.za/2020/05/21/electrical-certificates-of-compliance-and-why-you-need-one/
[4] Barnard Inc, "Fraudulent Electrical Certificates of Compliance in Property Transactions: Legal Consequences for Sellers, Purchasers and Contractors", 30 Mar 2026. https://barnardinc.co.za/2026/03/30/fraudulent-electrical-certificates-of-compliance-in-property-transactions-legal-consequences-for-sellers-purchasers-and-contractors/
[5] Department of Employment and Labour, "Notice to Homeowners, Businesses and Electrical Contractors Regarding Compliance with Electrical Installation Laws and Cert" (title as published), 21 Oct 2025. https://www.labour.gov.za/Media-Desk/Media-Alerts/Pages/Notice-to-Homeowners,-Businesses-and-Electrical-Contractors-Regarding-Compliance-with-Electrical-Installation-Laws-and-Cert.aspx
[6] SAnews, "Labour inspections yield positive results", 15 Oct 2025. https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/labour-inspections-yield-positive-results
[7] The Mercury, "Labour blitz: Two Chinese nationals arrested in Newcastle textile factory inspections", 06 Feb 2026. https://themercury.co.za/news/2026-02-06-labour-blitz-two-chinese-nationals-arrested-in-newcastle-textile-factory-inspections/
[8] The Citizen, "Undocumented workers evacuated after unsafe Newcastle factory shut down (PICS)", 06 Feb 2026. https://www.citizen.co.za/news/undocumented-workers-evacuated-after-unsafe-newcastle-factory-shut-down-pics/
[9] IOL, "Johannesburg butchery shut down over serious labour and health violations", 21 Aug 2026. https://iol.co.za/news/crime-and-courts/2026-08-21-johannesburg-butchery-shut-down-over-serious-labour-and-health-violations/
[10] IOL, "Steel manufacturing company faces scrutiny over alleged undocumented workers and safety breaches", 22 Sep 2026. https://iol.co.za/news/south-africa/2026-09-22-steel-manufacturing-company-faces-scrutiny-over-alleged-undocumented-workers-and-safety-breaches/
[11] Labour Guide, "Employment and Labour inspectorate issue Prohibition notice to Matla Primary School due to major Health and Safety non-compliance", 05 Mar 2026. https://labourguide.co.za/health-and-safety/news/employment-and-labour-inspectorate-issue-prohibition-notice-to-matla-primary-school-due-to-major-health-and-safety-non-compliance
[12] Health and Safety Executive, "Company fined for providing false electrical safety certificates for car washes", 27 Oct 2026. https://press.hse.gov.uk/2026/10/27/company-fined-for-providing-false-electrical-safety-certificates-for-car-washes/