New regulations will require most buildings in England and Wales to have Energy Perfomance Certificates which will allow owners to decide on measures to meet green targets. In addition, owners of buildings with larger air-conditioning systems will need to have them assessed on a regular basis.
Some large public buildings will also be required to display a certificate showing how much energy they have used in the preceeding year.
The Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspection) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 No 991 are being introduced from 2007, although some elements will not be in effect until 2011. Trading Standards services will be responsible for enforcing the requirements relating to the possession and display of certificates.
Breaches of the legislation may result in penalty charge notices of £200 for dwellings and up to £5000 for commercial premises
Recent amendments have established a new schedule for implementation and have changed HIP certificates requirements to make them valid for 12 months rather than 3.
| Date | Requirement |
| 1 October 2007 | EPCs required on sale of dwellings built to 2006 standards |
| 1 January 2008 | EPCs required on construction for all dwellings |
| 6 April 2008 | EPCs for sale or rent of non-dwellings over 500sq m on construction of all non-dwellings Public Authority building certificates required |
| 1 October 2008 | EPCs for sale or rent all remaining dwellings |
| 4 January 2009 | First inspection of air-conditioning systems over 250KW |
| 4 January 2011 | First inspection of all remaining air-conditioning systems over 12 kW |