AREA produces free guide to F-gas changes
14th October 2014
BELGIUM: The European contractors association AREA has produced a timely guide to the F-gas regulations which clarifies the new rules, their impact and their practical application.
The new F-Gas Regulation includes many changes that will become reality from January 1 2015.
Refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump contractors will be faced with a set of new
requirements that will substantially affect the content and performance of their activities.
Discussing the new guide, AREA president Per Jonasson said “This guide is the result of a work that started immediately after the EU Institutions found a compromise on the final text. Having closely followed the revision since the very beginning, we were well-placed to anticipate the questions the new regulation would trigger. Yet addressing them into a comprehensive yet clear and practical guide required great efforts and commitment from the entire AREA membership over more than 6 months.”
Help is also said to have been provided by the European Commission which was keen to ensure common understanding and consistency.
The guide comprehensively addresses all aspects relevant to contractors. For each theme, it clearly highlights what the impact is on contractors and it makes suggestions as to what they should do.
It also includes useful tools, such as a conversion table weight-CO2-eq for the most commonly used refrigerants, a flowchart on leak check frequency and a table summarising certification requirements.
AREA also took that opportunity to give an opinion on how member states could or should interpret and apply certain provisions, notably on delivery of f-gases and on sale of pre-charged equipment.
“These two issues are very important to AREA. We make concrete suggestions to ensure the practical effectiveness of the Regulation’s good principles”, adds Per Jonasson.
AREA maintains the guide is a living document that will be updated and completed following experience and notably after the adoption of implementing legislation.
The guide is free to download from the AREA website.
