SHERHPA : Regulation concerning fluorinated refrigerants

Summary :
The objective of this report is to present the present status of legislations concerning artificial refrigerants. Nowadays, refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump systems evolve rapidly in order to comply with the legislations on Ozone Depletion Substance and Global Warming.

Since the Montreal protocol in 1987, the refrigeration and air-conditioning industries are actively engaged in reducing the use of fluids having an impact on the Ozone layer. They have already banned the use of CFC, and are now progressively banning HCFC. Nowadays, HFC are mainly used by the professionals, but due to their impact on global warming they are concerned by the Kyoto protocol. HFC are or will be concerned by national or European legislations, which will either ban or restrict their use.

The main legislation for Ozone Depletion Substance are :

• The Montreal protocol in 1987 and his successive amendment
• The European directive °2037/2000 in date of 29/06/2000

The main texts on climate change are :

• The Kyoto protocol, adopted 10/12/1997, which entered into force 16/02/2005.
• The EC F-gas regulation proposal (21/06/2005)
• The Danish legislation on industrial gases N°522 in date of 02/07/2002
• The Austrian legislation on Fluorinated gases FLG N II 447/2002
• The Swiss legislation on dangerous substance for the environment adopted by the Swiss Federal Council in date of 29-30 /04/2003

The next chapters detail the existing legislation and those in preparation concerning ODS and F-Gases. Chapter 2 presents the last document issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which concern both ODS and greenhouse gases. Chapter 3 presents the Montreal protocol and its application in Europe. Chapter 4 is dedicated to Greenhouse gases and more particularly F-Gases such as HFC. Chapter 5 summarises the national and European regulations and legislations.