| IBC — International Building Code | 2021 | RISBC-1 Rhode Island Building Code (SBC-1), 510-RICR-00-00-1, adopted by the RI Building Code Standards Committee; "International Building Code (IBC), 2021 edition" adopted and incorporated; effective December 1, 2025 · source ↗ |
| IECC — International Energy Conservation Code | 2024 | RISBC-8 Rhode Island Energy Conservation Code (SBC-8), 510-RICR-00-00-8, adopted by the RI Building Code Standards Committee; "International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), 2024 edition" adopted and incorporated; effective December 1, 2025 · source ↗ |
| IFC — | NOT ADOPTED — RHODE ISLAND ADOPTS NO EDITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL FIRE CODE, AND THE PHRASE "INTERNATIONAL FIRE CODE" APPEARS IN THE STATEWIDE FIRE RULE ONLY IN A CLAUSE THAT REDIRECTS IT AWAY. RHODE ISLAND IS AN NFPA STATE BY STATUTE. The statewide fire code is the RHODE ISLAND FIRE CODE (RIFC), 450-RICR-00-00-7, promulgated by the FIRE SAFETY CODE BOARD OF APPEAL AND REVIEW, EFFECTIVE 2026-03-01 (Amendment; supersedes the Periodic Refile in force 2022-01-04 to 2026-03-01). Adopting words verbatim, s. 7.2 (Incorporated Materials): "The Fire Safety Code Board of Appeal and Review hereby adopts and incorporates as the RIFC the provisions of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1, Fire Code, 2021 edition, WITH ANNEXES, as published by the NFPA not including any further editions or amendments thereof and only to the extent that the provisions therein are not inconsistent with R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 23-28.01, et seq. and any provisions added, amended or reserved in this Regulation." NOTE THE ANNEXES ARE **IN** — the opposite of the usual appendix exclusion (cf. Utah IFC, North Dakota), and the statute at s. 23-28.1-2 also says "with annexes", so NFPA 1 Annexes A-F ARE Rhode Island law. Paired instrument: the RHODE ISLAND LIFE SAFETY CODE, 450-RICR-00-00-8 (NFPA 101). An answer of the form "Rhode Island: 20xx IFC" is not stale, it is contrary to the only statewide fire instruments Rhode Island has. NFPA 1 has had a 2024 edition since Rhode Island pinned 2021 — and the 2026-03-01 amendment KEPT the 2021 pin, so this is a DELIBERATE HOLD RE-CONFIRMED SIX MONTHS AGO, not neglect. | R.I. Gen. Laws s. 23-28.1-2, together with 450-RICR-00-00-7 s. 7.2 (Rhode Island Fire Code, eff. 2026-03-01). THE NEGATIVE HAS A PUBLISHER-NAMED STATUTORY BACKBONE — the rarest and strongest form of this finding. R.I. Gen. Laws s. 23-28.1-2 ("Purposes") adopts the fire code BY NAME AND PUBLISHER, verbatim: "The Fire Code (NFPA 1) and the Life Safety Code (NFPA 101) of the National Fire Protection Association, Inc., with annexes, except as updated, amended, altered, or deleted, and by the addition of certain provisions, as indicated in the rules and regulations adopted by the fire safety code board, is hereby adopted as the 'Rhode Island fire safety code.'" The Board's rulemaking power is R.I. Gen. Laws ss. 23-28.3-3 and 42-35-1 through 8. *** RHODE ISLAND IS THE CALIFORNIA H&SC 17922(a) SHAPE, NOT THE KENTUCKY KRS 227.300 SHAPE, AND THE DISTINCTION DECIDES HOW DURABLE THE NEGATIVE IS: Kentucky's supplement-only bar names NO publisher, so Kentucky could move to the IFC by ordinary rulemaking; RHODE ISLAND'S ENABLING STATUTE NAMES NFPA 1 AND NFPA 101 IN THE STATUTORY TEXT ITSELF, so an IFC adoption would take an ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, not a Board vote. The Board may "update, amend, alter or delete" the named NFPA codes; it is not empowered to substitute a different publisher. THIS IS A DURABLE-IN-LAW NEGATIVE. Confirmed independently: s. 23-28.3-3 ("Rules and regulations") names no publisher at all and only requires consistency with "widely recognized standards of good practice for fire prevention and fire protection" — the publisher constraint lives in s. 23-28.1-2, so A RUN THAT READS ONLY THE RULEMAKING STATUTE WILL WRONGLY CONCLUDE RHODE ISLAND IS PUBLISHER-AGNOSTIC. *** FOURTH MECHANISM-VARIANT FOR THE ICC-BUILDING / NFPA-FIRE SPLIT, AND RHODE ISLAND RUNS **TWO** OF THEM AT ONCE: (i) publisher-named enabling statute (new — this row), AND (ii) EXPRESS REFERENCE SUBSTITUTION, the West Virginia 87 CSR 4 s. 4.2 mechanism, at 450-RICR-00-00-7 Chapter 2 (Referenced Publications), verbatim: "all references to the International Fire Code in the Rhode Island State Building Code shall be understood to reference the comparable current provisions of this Rhode Island State Fire Safety Code adopted pursuant to the provisions of R.I. Gen. Laws ss. 23-28.3-3 and 42-35-1 through 8." *** THAT CLAUSE IS THE OPERATIONALLY IMPORTANT ONE FOR THIS PROJECT: RHODE ISLAND'S BUILDING CODE (510-RICR, RISBC-1, 2021 IBC — existing row d0e6e01f) DOES CITE THE IFC IN ITS MODEL TEXT, AND THOSE CITATIONS ARE LEGALLY REDIRECTED TO NFPA 1. ANY READER FOLLOWING AN IFC CROSS-REFERENCE OUT OF THE RHODE ISLAND IBC IS BEING SENT TO A CODE THAT IS NOT LAW HERE. IF THE SITE EVER SERVES RI IBC TEXT, THIS SUBSTITUTION MUST BE SURFACED AT EVERY IFC CROSS-REFERENCE OR THE SERVED TEXT ACTIVELY MISLEADS. Institutional split: 510-RICR = BUILDING CODE STANDARDS COMMITTEE (ICC codes, R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 23-27.3); 450-RICR = FIRE SAFETY CODE BOARD OF APPEAL AND REVIEW (NFPA codes, R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 23-28.1/23-28.3) — two boards, two RICR titles, the Massachusetts pattern. · source ↗ |
| IMC — International Mechanical Code | 2021 | RISBC-4 Rhode Island Mechanical Code (SBC-4), 510-RICR-00-00-4 s. 4.2, adopted by the RI Building Code Standards Committee under R.I. Gen. Laws ss. 23-27.3-100.1.5 and 23-27.3-109.1: "adopts and incorporates as the Rhode Island Mechanical Code the provisions of the International Mechanical Code (IMC), 2021 edition, as published by the International Code Council, Inc. (ICC)". ACTIVE RULE; Amendment effective December 1, 2025 (a formatting-only Technical Revision also carries the 12/01/2025 date). · source ↗ |
| IPC — International Plumbing Code | 2021 | RISBC-3 Rhode Island Plumbing Code (SBC-3), 510-RICR-00-00-3 s. 3.2, adopted by the RI Building Code Standards Committee under R.I. Gen. Laws ss. 23-27.3-100.1.5 and 23-27.3-109.1: "adopts and incorporates as the Rhode Island Plumbing Code the provisions of the International Plumbing Code (IPC), 2021 edition, as published by the International Code Council, Inc. (ICC)". ACTIVE RULE; Amendment effective December 1, 2025 (superseding the prior IPC 2018 based version). · source ↗ |
| IRC — International Residential Code | 2021 | RISBC-2 Rhode Island One and Two Family Dwelling Code (SBC-2), 510-RICR-00-00-2, adopted by the RI Building Code Standards Committee; "International Residential Code (IRC), 2021 edition" adopted and incorporated; effective December 1, 2025 · source ↗ |
| NEC — National Electrical Code (NFPA 70) | 2023 NEC (NFPA 70, 2023 Edition), FIRST PRINTING, FROZEN — "not including any further editions or amendments thereof". Adopted and incorporated as the Rhode Island Electrical Code by the RI Building Code Standards Committee at 510-RICR-00-00-5 s. 5.2(A), effective 2025-12-01. **THE PRINTING IS NAMED IN THE RULE AS THE FIRST PRINTING, AND THE INCORPORATION IS EXPRESSLY CLOSED AGAINST LATER NFPA AMENDMENTS. NOT 2026 AND NOT 2020.** | 510-RICR-00-00-5 s. 5.2(A) (RISBC-5, Rhode Island Electrical Code, Rhode Island Building Code Standards Committee). READ FIRST-HAND AT rules.sos.ri.gov 2026-09-18 AND TRANSCRIBED EXACTLY AS PRINTED: "The Building Code Standards Committee hereby adopts and incorporates as the Rhode Island Electrical Code the provisions of the National Electrical Code (NEC) 2023 edition, as published by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) not including any further editions or amendments thereof and only to the extent that the provisions therein are not inconsistent with R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 23-27.3 and any provisions reserved, deleted, or amended in this Regulation." AUTHORITY, s. 5.1, TRANSCRIBED EXACTLY AS PRINTED: "The Rhode Island Electrical Code is promulgated by the Building Code Standards Committee pursuant to the authority granted in R.I. Gen. Laws ss. 23-27.3-100.1.5 and 23.27.3-109.1." (the second citation is printed with that typo — "23.27.3" for "23-27.3" — reproduced here as printed, not corrected.) PRINTING PIN AND READING RULE, s. 5.2(A)(2)-(3), TRANSCRIBED EXACTLY AS PRINTED: "To properly utilize the Rhode Island Electrical Code, NEC 2023 must be read jointly with the Building Code requirements in R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 23-27.3 and the amendments to NEC 2023 set forth in the sections of this Regulation, below." / "Format: These code changes follow numbering sequence and topics of the NEC 2023 (first printing). All provisions of NEC 2023 are retained unless indicated in this Regulation as deleted or amended. Published errata are available from the NFPA website." RESIDENTIAL CROSS-REFERENCE, TRANSCRIBED EXACTLY AS PRINTED: "The provisions of the Rhode Island One and Two-Family Dwelling Code (Part 2 of this Subchapter) shall apply wherever referenced in this code as the International Residential Code." Effective 2025-12-01. Prior citation was seventy-one characters with no quoted instrument text and verified_at set since 2026-08-07. · source ↗ |