If it has a plug cap on the end it is going to be listed as an extension cord. I can see how they can be sold but you are certainly squeezing the word temporary when you screw it to the wall.
OTOH most plug strips have keyhole slots in the back to mount them semi-permanently. The whole thing is tip toeing around the code but this happens long after the inspectors are gone in a residence. Where you do get in trouble is in a commercial setting where you have a fire/life safety inspector walking around. We had a new guy here in Lee County who started enforcing the temporary wiring rules with a very sharp pencil. He had office workers all over town trying to find compliant solutions to all of the plug strips and orange cords they had strung around. In our office they negotiated using "surge strips" with a breaker in them in a lot of places but we also provided a lot of work for an electrician. In the end I had to admit, we made it a safer working space. At the time I was a licensed inspector but I was still working for IBM and actually had very little to do with their decision process. After the "raid" they did ask my opinion, interpreting the inspection report, hence the electrician. There was equipment that was too far from a receptacle and I told them there was no legal way to plug it in. We were starting to harden up our place for lightning strikes anyway so we were going to end up with surge strips, no matter what. I just was not using them to mitigate a lack of outlets where they were needed.


Greg Fretwell