Posted By shaun mckeever Ash British Standards are recommendations. A fire certificate normally states that systems such as fire detection and emergency lighting comply with the recommendations of the appropriate standard thus making the standard legally enforceable. You will soon be able to set fire to your old fire certificate and therefore not have to refer to it, however you will be measured by some other standard via your fire risk assessment. The British Standards are based on best practice and commonsense. If you do not comply with the standard then you would normally have to demonstrate an equivalent or better standard. If you can't then the best thing to do is to comply with the current BS.