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Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on certain fluorinated greenhouse gases

These pages are intended as a guide to stakeholders on Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on certain fluorinated greenhouse gases.  On this page you will find a summary of the latest developments, the final text of the Regulation and MAC Directive, initial Government guidance and minutes of the industry stakeholders meetings.  Contact details are provided at the bottom of the page.

Index

  1. Latest Developments
  2. Summary of the Regulation and final text
  3. MAC Directive and final text
  4. Initial Government Guidance 
  5. Supplementary Guidance for Stationary Refrigeration, Air-Conditioning and Heat Pump Users  
  6. Work being carried out by the European Commission  
  7. Minutes of f-gas industry stakeholders meetings    
  8. Key Contacts
     

1.  Latest Developments

This section summarises key recent developments. More details and links to documents are provided in the sections below.

Defra together with the DTI, Scottish Executive, Welsh Assembly and other stakeholders, have produced supplementary guidance for stationary refrigeration air-conditioning and heat pump users with an accompanying refrigerant charge calculator spreadsheet (see section 5).  The Refrigerant charge calculator spreadsheet has been prepared to help estimate the amount of refrigerant in refrigeration or air-conditioning equipment. Making a reasonable estimate of the refrigerant charge in a circuit is necessary in order to understand which of the Regulation's obligations will apply to the operaror responsible for that piece of equipment.

The supplementary guidance complements the recently published UK Government initial guidance and Frequently Asked Questions documents.  You can download a copy of the initial guidance and the FAQ documents in section 4.

DTI, working with other Whitehall departments and the devolved administrations, continues to seek the views of UK industry on implementing the Regulation and would appreciate your comments. If you wish to comment, please e-mail your views to Alan Morgan ([email protected]) at the Sustainable Development Unit. 

Respondents in Scotland are requested to copy comments to the Scottish Executive’s Climate Change Team [email protected]

2.  Summary of the Regulation and final text

The f-gas Regulation and Directive were published on 14 June 2006 in the Official Journal of the European Union and entered into force is 4 July 2006.  It will apply with effect from 4 July 2007.

The objectives of the Regulation

The principal objective is to contain, prevent and thereby reduce emissions of f-gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol. This Regulation will make a significant contribution towards the European Community's Kyoto Protocol target by introducing cost-effective mitigation measures and to prevent distortion of the internal market.

The main focus is on containment and recovery of f-gases, together with harmonised restrictions on the marketing and use of f-gases in applications where containment of f-gases is difficult to achieve or the use of f-gases is considered inappropriate and suitable alternatives exist.

The sectors affected

The containment and recovery articles in the Regulation will have an impact on the commercial refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump sectors and in the fire protection sector; and for the personnel involved in the installation, servicing and recovery of f-gases from these systems as well as from equipment containing fluorinated greenhouse gas based solvents, high voltage switchgear and fire extinguishers. Operators of relevant systems will have a range of obligations including prompt leakage repair, leakage checking and record keeping and ensuring appropriately qualified personnel are used.

However, this Regulation will potentially also have an impact on a wider range of f-gas uses due to the recovery obligation provided for in Article 4.3.

The Regulation will also impact on producers, importers and exporters of f-gases if they produce, import or export more than 1 tonne of f-gases per annum as they will have to report to the Commission and Member States' competent authorities on the amounts produced, imported or exported.

In addition, specified products and equipment that contain f-gases will be subject to labelling requirements and specific uses of f-gases and products that contain f-gases are controlled or banned by the Regulation. These cover certain uses of sulphur hexafluoride for magnesium die-casing, use of certain f-gases in non-refillable containers, fire protection systems, tyres, one component foams, novelty aerosols, footwear and windows and self-chilling cans.

f-gas Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 

3.  MAC Directive and final text

During negotiations in Council it was agreed that the measures in the Regulation relating to Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC) should form part of a separate Directive amending existing vehicle type approval legislation.
The MAC Directive sets out measures to minimise emissions of f-gases from air conditioning systems in cars (or car derived vans).  This is to be achieved principally through:

· the introduction of maximum leakage rates
· the eventual phase out in MAC use of f-gases with global warming potential greater than 150.


The Department of Transport is responsible for transposing the MAC Directive into UK law. For further information on the MAC Directive, contact Chris Parkin, Tel: 020 7944 2958
 MAC Directive 2006/40/EC 

4.  Initial UK Government Guidance

Key obligations in the Regulation will apply in the UK and the rest of the EU from 4th July 2007.  The Government is continuing to work with stakeholders to ensure that the f-gas Regulation is successfully implemented and its environmental objectives achieved.  This initial framework guidance is a key part of that work and has been developed in discussion with stakeholder groups. The guidance will be updated as necessary, including in the light of progress of the work of the f-gas Regulatory Committee (see section on article 12).  A supplementary document to the initial guidance on frequently asked questions has also been published.

EC regulation on certain fluorinated greenhouse gases - UK Government initial guidance - September 2006 EC Regulation no 842/2006 on certain fluorinated greenhouse gases: frequently asked questions

5. Supplementary Guidance for Stationary Refrigeration, Air-Conditioning and Heat Pump Users 

This Guidance Note is a supplement to the UK Government Initial Guidance (see above)
on the F-Gas Regulation. In particular this Guidance is intended to:

  • Help operators of stationary refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump equipment identify whether they use refrigerants affected by the new Regulation.
  • Help identify how much refrigerant they have in a system.  This is important as it affects the way the Regulation will apply.
  • For those that are affected, to provide an explanation of what actions they need to take to comply and the dates when the new rules come into force.

The supplementary Guidance note is only aimed at stationary refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump users.  Other sectors affected by the F-Gas Regulation (e.g. fire protection systems, solvents, foam blowing, aerosols) should refer to the UK Government Initial Guidance above. 

EC Regulation no 842/2006 on certain fluorinated greenhouse gases. Supplementary guidance for statutory refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump users.   The Refrigerant charge calculator spreadsheet has been prepared to help estimate the amount of refrigerant in refrigeration or air-conditioning equipment. Making a reasonable estimate of the  refrigerant charge in a circuit is necessary in order to understand which of the Regulation's obligations will apply to the operator responsible for that piece of equipment. To use the Refrigerant Charge Calculator you will need to enable the macros.  The macro security settings within Excel will need to be set at low or medium.     Refrigerant Charge Calculator

*Information from the DTI website.

Tel: +44(0)1234 764128

E-mail: [email protected]


 

 

 


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