I have recently gotten a response from NFPA on this;
Question to NFPA;
I was wondering if you could please help with something that has recently come up.
It basically has to do with how Exceptions are interpreted in the NEC (both 1999 and 2002) as far as which rule (or part of a rule) they apply to.
....
Example;
xxx-xx(x)Occupancy Type; Here is some Rule that shall be followed in the Locations specified below.
(1)Location 1
(2)Location 2
Exception No. 1.........
Exception No. 2..........
Are the exceptions meant to apply to both locations (1) and (2) or only the one (2) that it follows?
The NEC Style Manual seems to say the Exceptions are to the Rule above it (and the List items are only part of the Rule)
Answer:
Bill:
My apologies for the delay in responding: (a) it got lost in the Holiday and year-end craziness, and (b) I had to research the answer.
The answer is: the exception(s) are to the item directly above only, whether that is a rule or a sub-part of a rule. In your example, both exceptions are to (2) only. In reviewing the 2002 Code for errata, we found another interesting one: it looked like your example, except there was a subhead (3). The exception was printed under (3), but belonged under (2). However, we feared that moving it there might make people think it applied to both (1) and (2) but not (3). So we added a few words, as in "Exception No. 1 to item (2) only..."
Chuck Durang
Product Manager, Electrical
NFPA
