EU F-Gas Regulation

The European Union introduced F-Gas Regulations in 2006 that govern anyone that produces, imports, exports, or operates equipment using F gases such as hydrofluorocarbons(HFCs), perfluorocarbons(PFCs) and sulphur hexaflouride(SF6). These were introduced to limit the damage that these gases can do to the earth’s atmosphere. F-Gas regulation is important to know and understand as it can affect the running of your business that might require the use of these gases, such as air conditioning or commercial refrigeration,

The EU F-Gas Regulations require that you use trained technicians whenever work is performed on equipment that contains F-Gas, including maintenance, repair, and disposal. This means that the person repairing the equipment must hold a qualification recognized by an EU member state. However in vehicles, this only applies to trucks that weigh more than 3.5 tonnes, and trailers that are designed to be towed, either by a tractor or a truck.

The F-Gas Regulations state that all fire protection, air conditioning or refrigeration equipment that contains F-gas be labeled as such, stating that the equipment contains F gas, and the industry name for the F-gas (or chemical name, if no accepted industry name exists). From 2017, the equipment must also be labeled with the mass of the F gas, the carbon dioxide equivalent of the F-gas, and the global warming potential of the F gas.

F-Gas Regulation also require care when disposing of solvents that contain F gas. Again, you must use a technician that is qualified to recover F-gas from solvents, as recognized by an EU member state, and you must make sure that the person you hire to do this job is qualified. The technician can send the solvent to a specialized plant that will process the used solvent to create ‚reclaimed solvent‘, or the solvent can be put though a cleaning process in order to make ‚recycled solvent‘. If your solvent is too contaminated to do this, the technician can alternatively recover the F-gas and send it for destruction at a licensed waste facility.

There are many more F-Gas Regulations that apply within the EU than can be stated here, but hopefully this introduction will have given you a brief insight into how to become compliant within the EU.

More information at www.secop.com