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Section 643. Department; functions.
The department shall enforce, with respect to buildings and structures, such provisions of the building code, zoning resolution, multiple dwelling law, labor law and other laws, rules and regulations as may govern the construction, alteration, maintenance, use, occupancy, safety, sanitary conditions, mechanical equipment and inspection of buildings or structures in the city, and shall perform the functions of the city of New York relating to
   (1)   the designation of buildings and structures as unsafe and the necessary legal action in relation thereto prior to the removal of the unsafe condition through demolition or sealing except as provided in section eighteen hundred two of this charter;
   (2)   the shoring of hazardous and unsafe buildings and structures;
   (3)   the testing and approval of power-operated cranes and derricks used for construction, alteration, demolition, excavation and maintenance purposes, including such uses in highways or sewers, or used to hoist or lower any article on the outside of any building, excluding cranes and derricks used in industrial plants or yards;
   (4)   the location, construction, alteration and removal of signs, illuminated or non-illuminated, attached to the exterior of any building or structure;
   (5)   (i) all surface and subsurface construction within the curb line, including curb cuts and driveways, the covering thereof and entrances thereto and the issuance of permits in reference thereto, (ii) in conjunction with the issuance of permits for surface and subsurface construction within the curbline, such surface and subsurface construction outside the curbline as shall be expressly delegated to the department in the administrative code and the issuance of permits in relation thereto and, (iii) notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of section fourteen hundred three of this charter, in conjunction with the issuance of a permit for the construction of a building, the commissioner may approve the installation of and issue a permit for the construction of an individual on site private sewage disposal system for the premises. Such permit shall be issued in accordance with standards and specifications prescribed by the commissioner, in consultation with the commissioner of environmental protection, for the installation of individual on site private sewage disposal systems; 
   (6)   the regulation, inspection and testing of gas and electricity used for light, heat and power purposes, electric, gas and steam meters, electric wires and all lights furnished to the city; and
   (7)   the regulation, inspection and testing of electric wires and wiring apparatus and other appliances used or to be used for the transmission of electricity for electric light, heat, power, signaling, communication, alarm and data transmission in or on any building or structure in the city; provided, however, that the jurisdiction of the department, except for the testing and approval of power-operated cranes and derricks used for construction, alteration, demolition, excavation and maintenance purposes and the licensing of the operators of such equipment, the regulation, inspection and testing of gas and electricity used for light, heat and power purposes, electric, gas and steam meters, electric wires and lights and the regulation, inspection and testing of wiring and appliances for electric light, heat and power, shall not extend to waterfront property owned by the city and under the jurisdiction of the department of ports, international trade and commerce, or to the following structures on any such waterfront property; wharves, piers, docks, bulkheads, structures wholly or partly thereon, or to such other structures used in conjunction with or in furtherance of waterfront commerce or navigation, or to bridges, tunnels or subways or structures appurtenant thereto.
Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Administrative Code Appendix A at L.L. 1985/069, L.L. 1996/065 and L.L. 2001/064.