A consultation on reforming the UK’s fluorinated gas legislation, due to launch by the end of 2024, will pave the way for wider legislative changes on the use of refrigerants.

A leading expert on refrigerant legislation has said the industry should expect the Government to bring forward proposals by the end of the year to allow time for any proposed amendments to be adopted in British law from January 2025.

The process was also due to be followed by a new review to consider a wider overhaul of the flagship refrigerant legislation, with a view to broadening jurisdiction over the safe and efficient use of a range of different gases.

The claims were made by Graeme Fox, who last month took on the new role of director of the fluorinated gases program at Quidos, one of several UK-run registration programs for specialists seeking to manipulate fluorinated gases.

Mr Fox, who recently announced his resignation as president of the Institute of Refrigeration (IOR), said he would seek to use the newly created role to help strengthen the group’s technical expertise to assist engineers and other specialists using F gas refrigerants.

Mr Fox previously led the work of Refcom, another registry focused on compliance with fluorinated gas regulations in the UK.

He told RAC Magazine that he was now looking to use this industry experience to introduce a similar voluntary “Alpha” elite program under the F-Gas Register brand that had been introduced by Refcom during his tenure at the band.

Mr Fox added: “This will raise the auditing bar above what the industry currently has, giving manufacturers confidence in contractors’ abilities to apply their products using industry best practices and in providing facilities tailored to their needs. »

Other potential areas for innovation could include examining a new supplier system with a view to monitoring good practice and enforcing legislative requirements as set out in UK national legislation.

The intention to revise the UK’s Fluorinated Gases Regulation, which was introduced into national law as part of the Brexit withdrawal process, follows separate changes to EU law introduced earlier this year.

These changes will include stricter market quotas for certain refrigerants from January 2025.

Mr Fox said he had continued to be in contact with government officials in Brussels and Westminster about the review process and the implementation of the requirements.

Some aspects of the legislation remained interconnected – although the UK now has its own separate national legislation, he added.

Work to define some of the terms and requirements of the UK consultation on the legislation was underway with the aim of delivering on previously expressed commitments and ensuring the proposals are published this year.

Mr Fox said the general election held in July had forced civil servants to comply with the requirements of the pre-election Purdah period, which would have delayed the launch of the consultation. However, it was expected that the consultation would follow shortly.

Mr Fox said: “It is still planned to hold the consultation before the end of the year to enable a regulatory change from January 2025 with implementation in January 2026.”

An expanded mandate

Currently, the F-Gas Regulation applies exclusively to the handling and monitoring of HFCs and fluorinated gases. This is due to concerns about the environmental impact of these refrigerants directly producing carbon emissions by escaping into the atmosphere.

In recent years, sectors of the industry have called for more significant reform of fluorinated gas legislation, both at UK and EU level. One example is expanding the scope of regulation to apply to the use and management of all types of refrigerants and not just fluorinated gases. These proposals have been suggested as a way of introducing a mandatory requirement for training and skills development to ensure the safe and effective use of products such as flammable refrigerants.

Mr Fox noted that the EU had chosen, in its own reforms, not to broaden the scope of the legislation to include all types of refrigerants, in part because of the considerable time needed to review and agree on large-scale reforms.

British authorities also chose not to include similar proposals in the next review due to time constraints in what is expected to be a lengthy process, it added.

A further review to consider widening the scope of the legislation should be undertaken by the UK government once the next review is completed, Mr Fox said.

He said: “They have assured me that a full review will begin once we have the current review in place and that consideration is fully on the table for inclusion at this stage. »

Potential for divergence within the EU

The review of regulations in the UK was not expected to reflect the changes introduced in the EU. Mr Fox argued that some of the changes implemented to introduce a stricter phase-down of F-gas refrigerants had raised industry concerns about whether they could realistically be delivered within the revised timeframe.

He said: “Some of the new measures were ideologically driven and there was insufficient assessment of their impact. »

“That said, there will be a tightening of phase-down dates – likely to align with the Kigali Amendment – ​​and this will drive the need to upskill to ensure we can safely transition to flammable refrigerants.”