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NFPA GENER4L DOCUMENT MFORMATION

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

Copyright 1995 XFPA. All rights reserved.

N FPA 70 - National Electricnl Code (Registered Trade Mark)

1996 Edition

This 1996 edition of the National EIecirical Code (NFPA 70-1996) was adopted by the
National F i e Protection Association, Inc., on May 25, at its 1995 Annual Meeting, in Denver,
CO, and was released by the Standards Council on July 21, 1995. It was approved by the
American National Standards Institute on August 18, 1995. This 1996 edition supersedes all
other previous editions, supplements, and printings dated 1897, 1899, 1901, 1903, 1904,
1905, 1907, 1909,1911,1913, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1933,
1935, 1937, 1940, 1942, 1943, 1947, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959,
1962, 1965, 1968, 1971, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1990, and 1993.

Changes in this 1996 edition of the NarionuIEIectricaI Code (as compared with the 1993
edition) are indicated by vertical lines in the margin.
The location (in the 1993 edition) of material not appearing in the 1996 edition, and not
identified as a change by a vertical line, is identified by a bullet (.) in the margin. Changes in
section and table numbers are not identified.
Material identified by the superscript letter "x"includes text extracted from other NFPA
documents as identified in Appendix A.
This Code is purely advisory as far as NFPA and ANSI are concerned, but is offered for use in
law and for regulatory purposes in the interest of life and property protection. Anyone noticing
any errors should not@ the Secretary of the National Electrical Code Committee at the NFPA
Executive Office.
History and Developnlent of the Nationnl Electrical Code
The National Fire Protection Association has acted as sponsor of the NationaI EIectricaI Code
since 191 1. The original Code document was developed in 1897 as a result of the u ~ t e d
efforts of various insurance, electrical, architectural, and allied interests.
In accordance with the provisions of the NF'PA Regulations Governing Committee Projects, a
National Electrical Code Committee Report on Proposals containing proposed amendments to
the 1993 NatiomI EIectricaI Code was published by the NFPA in June 1994. This report
recorded the actions of the various Code-Making Panels and the Correlating Committee of the
National Electrical Code Committee on each proposal that had been made to revise the 1993
Code. The report was circulated to all members of the National Electrical Code Committee,
and was made available to other interested NFPA members and to the public for review and
comment. Following the close of the public comment period, the Code-Making Panels met,

1996 National Electrical Code, Copyright 1995 NFPA

acted on each comment, and reported their action to the Correlating Committee. The NFPA
published the National Electrical Code Committee Report on Comments in April 1995, which
recorded the actions of the Code-Making Panels and the Correlating Committee on each
public comment to the National Electrical Code Committee Report on Proposals. The
National Electrical Code Committee Report on Proposals and the National Electrical Code
Committee Report on Comments were presented to the 1995 NFPA Annual Meeting for
adoption. The proceedings of that adoption are published in the September 1995 issue of the
NFPA Journal.
NFPA has an Electrical Section that provides particular opportunity for NFPA members
interested in electrical safety to become better informed and to contribute to the development
of the National Electrical Code and other NFPA electrical standards. Each of the
Code-Making Panels and the Chairman of the Correlating Committee reported their
recommendations to meetings of the Electrical Section at the 1995 NFPA Annual Meeting.
The Electrical Section thus had opportunity to discuss and review the report of the National
Electrical Code Committee prior to the adoption of this edition of the Code by the
Association.

11996 National Electrical Code, Copyright 1995 NFPA