15 September 2026
Five inspections require a measurement and test report, and the grid operator may reject a safety certificate that lacks the measured values. What the DETEC ordinance and the ESTI actually require: insulation measurement, short-circuit current at the start and at the end, RCD test — per final circuit. And for a PV system: the photovoltaic measurement and test report under ESTI directive 220.
A measurement and test report (Mess- und Prüfprotokoll) is mandatory for five inspections: the initial verification during construction, the final inspection, the acceptance inspection, the periodic inspection and the spot-check inspection. For every final circuit it must contain the values of the insulation measurement, the short-circuit current at the start and at the end of the line, and the type, characteristic and rated current of the overcurrent protective device — plus the result of the RCD test. If these values are missing, the grid operator may reject the safety certificate.
None of this is in the NIN, the Swiss low-voltage installation standard. It is in the DETEC Ordinance on Low-Voltage Electrical Installations (V-UVEK NIV) and in the answers published by the Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations, ESTI. Both are public, and both are more specific than most businesses assume.
A measurement and test report is the record of the results of an inspection that has been carried out — the measured values and test results per circuit that allow the safety of an electrical installation to be assessed. That is how Art. 14 para. 1 of the V-UVEK NIV defines it: the report "sets out the results of the inspections carried out".
It is therefore not the same thing as the safety certificate (Sicherheitsnachweis, SiNa) but part of it. The safety certificate under Art. 37 of the NIV (Low-Voltage Installation Ordinance) is the document the owner submits to the grid operator; the measurement and test report is its technical content. The ESTI puts it this way: the report "forms part of the technical content of a safety certificate and serves to assess the safety of the electrical installation". The scope of the installation — and, for an independent inspection, the scope of the inspection — must be evident from the recorded measurements.
What distinguishes the three inspections of a new installation, and who may carry them out, is covered in the article «Initial verification, final inspection, acceptance inspection». This article is about what has to be written down along the way.
Art. 14 para. 2 of the V-UVEK NIV lists exhaustively the inspections for which a measurement and test report must be produced:
Two points about this regularly come as a surprise in practice.
The initial verification must be recorded, even without a safety certificate. Art. 24 para. 1 NIV requires the initial verification during construction to be "recorded" — for every installation, before it is put into service. And for the small jobs where, according to the ESTI, no formal safety certificate is exceptionally required — repair or replacement of a product, a change in load of no more than 3.7 kVA, no alteration to building mains, consumer lines or distribution lines, no reporting duty — it is precisely the report of the initial verification, handed to the owner, that suffices. The report is therefore the one document that is never dropped.
The acceptance inspection needs its own report — but may build on the existing one. Under Art. 14 of the V-UVEK NIV, the independent inspection body also produces a measurement and test report for the acceptance inspection. According to the ESTI it may use the report from the final inspection and supplement it "accordingly with its own measured values, including details of the measuring instrument". The independence of the inspection under Art. 31 NIV must remain visible: who measured what, with which instrument, has to be apparent from the document. The same applies to the grid operator's spot-check inspection.
Art. 13 of the V-UVEK NIV requires the safety certificate to contain, in addition to the details under Art. 37 para. 1 NIV, "all technical details […] necessary for assessing the safety of an electrical installation". The following are considered necessary in particular:
In its FAQ the ESTI turns this into a concrete list. On the safety certificate, "the measurement results of the checks are to be entered in the places provided", namely:
The sentence that governs practice follows directly: the results are to be "recorded traceably per final circuit (overcurrent protective device) in the measurement and test report". One value per distribution board is not enough. The measured values must relate to the overcurrent protective device fitted in the circuit concerned — otherwise there is no way to judge whether it will disconnect in time in the event of a fault.
For a flat, the ESTI sets out the minimum details in a technical article: the short-circuit current of the supply line or service fuse, of the consumer fuse, of the largest final circuit and — measured at the end — of the most distant final circuit.
The question electrical inspectors put to the ESTI is one that keeps coming up in businesses too: when an installation is extended or altered, does the value at the connection point have to be measured and entered again, or is the value at the end of the line enough?
The ESTI's answer: Ik start is measured at the input of the main distribution board, Ik end at the end of the line, and what is entered is the value actually measured — "only then can the result be assessed". Ik start serves to assess the service fuse. But if the value at the end is high enough to meet the requirement at the start as well, it is sufficient to enter only the value at the end. If Ik end is not sufficient, Ik start must be filled in. The ESTI expressly calls this a technical judgement in each individual case, not a yes-or-no rule — and it reminds readers in the same article that the grid operator may demand the measurement and test report.
The insulation measurement is the rule, and the V-UVEK NIV recognises exactly two exceptions:
Anyone relying on the first exception should record in the report why: which RCD monitors which circuit. Otherwise the grid operator reads an empty field, not a justified exception.
According to the ESTI, testing the residual current device is part of the basic requirement of Art. 3 para. 1 NIV that an installation must endanger neither persons nor property nor animals. The correct trips are to be recorded, and in addition:
So the short-circuit current is recorded behind an RCD too. To the question whether it could be left out because the RCD trips anyway, the ESTI answers with this list: no.
A business may use its own form — "if the requirements under Art. 37 of the NIV, and under Art. 13 and Art. 14" of the V-UVEK NIV are met. The trade associations' templates for the safety certificate and the measurement and test report meet these requirements, according to the ESTI. Anyone who produces reports from their own software must therefore provide the fields listed above for every final circuit: overcurrent protective device with type, characteristic and rated current, Ik start and Ik end, Riso, RCD trip, measuring instrument.
Photovoltaic systems are a special case that deserves a section of its own — right below.
The photovoltaic measurement and test report is the trade template used to record the initial verification of a PV system. ESTI directive 220 (requirements for energy generation systems, in force since 1 July 2021) provides that SN EN 62446-1 applies to the initial verification and that this report can be used to record it; it was drawn up by the trade together with the ESTI and the Suva and contains all the details that must be documented for a PV system. In its FAQ on the safety certificate the ESTI is firmer: for photovoltaic systems it is to be used. Anyone who builds PV systems therefore does not choose a form freely: they work with this template — or with their own form that contains the same details.
Where it sits in the sequence:
Who fills in which part depends on the permit. The limited permit under Art. 14 NIV allows installation work from the module cabling up to and including the output terminals of the system switch (Anlageschalter); from the input terminals of the system switch onwards a general installation permit is required in every case. The holder of a limited permit carries out an initial verification and hands the owner either the report of that verification or that of the work carried out — the directive recommends the PV report for this. They do not issue a safety certificate. If they built the DC part, the acceptance inspection of that part must be carried out by an accredited inspection body (Art. 32 para. 2 let. b NIV in conjunction with no. 1.3.5 of the NIV annex).
Three points where practice often stumbles:
Art. 38 NIV is short: grid operators "reject incomplete or obviously incorrect safety certificates and order the necessary measures". They may request additional information and the submission of the installation's technical documents.
A safety certificate without the measured values per final circuit is an incomplete safety certificate. The rejection costs the business a second visit — and if it happens during a periodic inspection, the owner's deadline keeps running while the measurements are redone. What the owner then faces is set out in the article «The deadline for the safety certificate has passed».
Three things on which reports fail in practice:
How elektro.box keeps inspections and measurements per installation — with the measurement report and the safety certificate in the installation's dossier rather than in the job folder — is shown on the page Inspections and measurements. If you are looking for an independent inspection body for the acceptance inspection, the background is in the article «Commissioning an inspection body or inspection agency».
Does every initial verification require a measurement and test report? Yes. Art. 24 para. 1 NIV requires the initial verification during construction to be recorded, and Art. 14 para. 2 V-UVEK NIV names it as the first of the five inspections for which a measurement and test report must be produced. For small jobs without a formal safety certificate, this report is even the only document the owner receives.
Which values must the measurement report contain for each circuit? The type, characteristic and rated current of the overcurrent protective device, the short-circuit current Ik start (L-PE) and Ik end (L-PE), the insulation resistance Riso and the result of the RCD test — recorded traceably per final circuit, according to the ESTI.
May the insulation measurement be omitted if an RCD is fitted? Only for the periodic inspection, and only if the insulation resistances are permanently monitored by devices such as an RCD with a rated residual operating current of no more than 30 mA (Art. 13 para. 3 V-UVEK NIV). For the final inspection of a new installation, the measurement is taken.
May an electrical contractor use its own report form? Yes, if it meets the requirements of Art. 37 NIV and of Art. 13 and 14 V-UVEK NIV. The trade associations' templates meet them; your own form or software must provide the same details per final circuit.
Which measurement and test report belongs to a photovoltaic system? The photovoltaic measurement and test report. ESTI directive 220 names it for the initial verification under SN EN 62446-1 and states that it contains all the details required for a PV system; the ESTI FAQ says it is to be used for photovoltaic systems.
Who may fill in the photovoltaic measurement and test report? The installer who puts the system into operation — including the holder of a limited permit under Art. 14 NIV, for their part up to the output terminals of the system switch. They may not issue a safety certificate.
Does ESTI directive 233 still apply to photovoltaics? No. The ESTI put it out of force on 30 June 2021; directive 220 replaces it.
Sources: DETEC Ordinance on Low-Voltage Electrical Installations (V-UVEK NIV, SR 734.272.3), Art. 13 and 14, fedlex.admin.ch. Low-Voltage Installation Ordinance (NIV, SR 734.27), Art. 3, 15, 24, 31, 35–39, as of 31 October 2025, fedlex.admin.ch. Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations ESTI, FAQ «Periodische Kontrollen, Sicherheitsnachweise» (periodic inspections, safety certificates), sections A and B, as of 22 July 2021, esti.admin.ch. ESTI directive no. 220, version 0621, «Anforderungen an Energieerzeugungsanlagen» (requirements for energy generation systems), in force from 1 July 2021, nos. 5–9 and annex A, esti.admin.ch. ESTI notice no. 2021-0701, «Verordnungsänderung per 1. Juli 2021» (amendment of the ordinances as of 1 July 2021), esti.admin.ch. ESTI, André Moser, «Frage eines Elektrokontrolleurs zum Eintrag Kurzschlussstrom auf SINA und Mess- und Prüfprotokoll bezogen auf IK Anfang und IK Ende» (an electrical inspector's question on entering the short-circuit current, Ik start and Ik end, in the SiNa and the measurement and test report), technical article 02/2014. This article is not legal advice; in case of doubt, the responsible grid operator or the ESTI decides.
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