5.5 Record-Keeping Duties & the Statutory Clocks (regs 72A, 74E–74H)

5.5 Record-Keeping Duties & the Statutory Clocks (regs 72A, 74E–74H)

Quick Answer: The ESR publish exact deadlines — you do not have to hedge. The certificate of compliance copy goes to the client within 20 days of completing the work (reg 74E(2), calendar days). The record of inspection and the electrical safety certificate copies go out within 20 working days after issue (regs 72A(1) and 74G(1)). The electrical safety certificate must be issued as soon as practicable after connection and no later than 20 working days after connection (reg 74C). Everything is retained at least 7 years, and any authorised requester gets a copy within 10 working days.

The trap that catches good candidates

Sections 5.1 to 5.4 built the three documents and the three chains. This section attaches the numbers. There is one trap running through all of it:

The ESR use "days" in one place and "working days" everywhere else, and they are not the same clock.

Regulation 74E(2) — the certificate of compliance copy — says "within 20 days after completing the work". Every other 20-unit deadline in this part of the Regulations says "20 working days". Over a period with public holidays, 20 days and 20 working days can differ by more than a fortnight. When a multiple-choice stem offers both, the difference is the whole question.

Second trap: the CoC clock runs from completing the work, while the RoI and ESC copy clocks run from the date the certificate was issued, and the ESC issue clock runs from connection. Three documents, three starting guns.

Every clock in one table

Who the "responsible person" is

Regulation 74E(1) defines it, and the definition is examinable because it moves the duty off the individual sparky in a common real-world case:

• the person who issued the certificate of compliance; or
• if that person was acting under an employer licence, the holder of the employer licence.

So on a job run under an employer licence, the retention and supply duties for the CoC sit with the licence holder, not the employee who signed. Regulation 74E(6) adds that nothing stops the individual issuer from keeping their own copy as well — good practice, and a sensible answer to "can I keep a personal copy?" stems.

Regulation 74E(1) also states that for this regulation, "certificate of compliance" includes any record of inspection included in, or attached to, a certificate of compliance issued under regulation 66. That is why a stapled CoC-plus-RoI set travels as one record.

Who can demand a copy

The same six requesters appear in regs 72A(2), 74E(4) and 74G(2). Learn the list once and it covers all three documents:

1. WorkSafe
2. the Board (EWRB)
3. the Registrar
4. the territorial authority for the place concerned
5. the person who contracted for the work
6. the owner or occupier of the place or thing where the installation or part installation is located

All of them get their copy within 10 working days after the request. A stem that says "the council asked for the CoC last month and we are still looking for it" is describing a breach, not a filing backlog.

The high-risk database (regs 74F and 112A)

High-risk prescribed electrical work has an extra step that candidates routinely forget, and it is worth marks because it separates the electrician's duties from the inspector's.

• The details of high-risk PEW — including details of the certificate of compliance provided for that work — must be lodged on the database referred to in regulation 112A.
• Lodgement is done by the person who inspected the work, not by the electrician who did it.
• The deadline is within 20 working days after the date of the record of inspection.
• WorkSafe determines what particular details are lodged and how.

So on a high-risk job the electrician issues the CoC, the inspector issues the RoI and lodges the database entry. Answers that put database lodgement on the installing electrician are wrong.

Offences — these duties have teeth

The point for the exam: late paperwork is itself an offence, independent of whether the wiring was good. Options along the lines of "no harm done because the installation was safe" are distractors.

Worked scenarios

S1 — General-risk domestic circuit addition, connected the same day. CoC issued; client copy due within 20 days of completing the work (74E(2)); ESC issued as soon as practicable and within 20 working days of connection (74C), with its copy due within 20 working days of issue (74G(1)(a)). Both retained 7 years.

S2 — High-risk mains work. Electrician issues CoC. Inspector inspects, issues RoI, gives the client a copy within 20 working days of issue (72A(1)(a)), and lodges details on the reg 112A database within 20 working days of the date of the RoI (74F(1)). ESC follows connection under 74C. Everything retained 7 years; the RoI-plus-CoC set travels together under 74E(1).

S3 — Work done under an employer licence, and the employee has since left. The employer licence holder is the responsible person under 74E(1)(b) and still owes retention and production. "The person who signed it resigned" is not a defence.

S4 — EWRB writes asking for a CoC from two years ago. Provide within 10 working days (74E(4)). Two years is comfortably inside the 7-year retention period, so "we only keep them for twelve months" is a breach.

Bottom line for Section 5.5

The Regulations publish these numbers, so do not carry a vague sense of "about twenty-something days" into the exam. Carry the distinction: 20 days for the CoC copy (74E), 20 working days for the RoI copy (72A), the ESC issue after connection (74C) and the ESC copy (74G), 10 working days for any authorised request, 7 years retention for all of it, and 20 working days for the inspector's database lodgement (74F).