---
title: "Pre-cabling"
description: "Pre-cabling (EPBD IV): everything needed to install recharging points later, such as cables, cable routes, data links and, where needed, meters."
canonical: "https://gencompl.ai/glossary/pre-cabling"
language: "en-US"
type: "Glossary term"
published: "2026-10-14T18:25:45.945Z"
modified: "2026-10-14T19:18:08.421Z"
---

# Pre-cabling

All measures that are necessary to enable the installation of recharging points, including data transmission, cables, cable routes and, where necessary, electricity meters.

Also known as: voorbekabeling

**What does "Pre-cabling" mean under EPBD IV?**

Defined in: [EPBD IV](https://gencompl.ai/regulations/epbd) (32024L1275)

[Home](https://gencompl.ai/) › [Glossary](https://gencompl.ai/glossary) › Pre-cabling

> All measures that are necessary to enable the installation of recharging points, including data transmission, cables, cable routes and, where necessary, electricity meters

## Defined in / by

- [EPBD IV (32024L1275)](https://gencompl.ai/regulations/epbd), Article 2, point (34)

Last updated: 14 October 2026.

## More than empty pipes

Pre-cabling is the step between ducting and a working recharging point. The definition covers all measures needed to enable the installation of recharging points, and names four: data transmission, cables, cable routes and, where necessary, electricity meters. A parking space with pre-cabling should need only the charger itself.

Ducting is a lighter requirement. Article 14 describes it as conduits for electric cables, and the Directive uses the two terms side by side: new non-residential buildings with more than five spaces, and those undergoing major renovation, need pre-cabling for at least 50 % of the spaces and ducting for the rest (Article 14(1)). Article 14(1) also requires the pre-cabling and ducting to be dimensioned for the simultaneous and efficient use of the required number of recharging points, and to support a load or recharging management system where appropriate. For new residential buildings with more than three spaces, the pre-cabling must allow recharging on all spaces at the same time (Article 14(4)).

Buildings owned or occupied by public bodies get a separate duty: pre-cabling for at least 50 % of their car parking spaces by 1 January 2033 (Article 14(2)).

The Dutch Bbl uses voorbekabeling. Staatsblad 2026, 103 applies the 50 % pre-cabling rule to new and majorly renovated non-residential buildings from 29 May 2026, with conduits for the remaining spaces, and the 2033 rule for public-body buildings from 1 January 2033.

> **What we could not establish**
>
> The definition says "where necessary" for electricity meters, without saying who decides necessity. National technical rules fill that in. This entry fixes the term. It does not decide whether the term catches your institution; counsel decides that.

## Questions and answers

### What is the difference between pre-cabling and ducting?

Pre-cabling covers all measures needed to install recharging points, including cables, cable routes, data transmission and where necessary meters. Ducting is only the conduits for electric cables. Article 14(1) requires pre-cabling for half the spaces and ducting for the rest.

### When must public buildings have pre-cabling?

By 1 January 2033, for at least 50 % of the car parking spaces of buildings owned or occupied by public bodies (Article 14(2) of EPBD IV).

## Sources

- [Directive (EU) 2024/1275 on the energy performance of buildings (recast)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1275/oj/eng) (EUR-Lex · 8 May 2024)
- [Besluit van 21 april 2026 tot wijziging van het Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving (eerste tranche EPBD IV), Stb. 2026, 103](https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stb-2026-103.html) (Officiële bekendmakingen · 7 May 2026)

## Related content

### Regulation

- [Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD IV)](https://gencompl.ai/regulations/epbd): EPBD IV is Directive (EU) 2024/1275, the recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. The Netherlands put its first tranche into force on 29 May 2026 (Stb. 2026, 103), with duties staged to 2033: recharging points in existing car parks from 1 January 2027, solar and lighting control from 1 January 2028. Energy label D by 2030 is still a proposal.