Hi Andy! MY first colleague here from a German-speaking Country! I'm from Austria.
On the stranded wire issue: Flex is not permitted for fixed wiring, but stranded is, for cross sections of 10mm2 and up (feindrähtig).
The fuses we're talking about are the good old Diazed or Neozed.
There are some metal panels, but they're rather rare and they don't have to be grounded (or at least those I've seen aren't). Here in Austria main fuse boxes and meter enclosures are always metal (either galvanized or painted dark grey). Those only take a meter, no main fuses, branch circuit fuses, etc. like some German meter enclosures do.
Ferruels also shoulöd be used whereever a flex is connected to a plug, appliance, etc. Back in the old days sparkies used to tin the ends, but that has caused some fires.
Noch was: Wenn du Probleme mit was englischem hast, kurze fremdsprachige Diskussionen sind hier erlaubt!
