New legislation

New legislation has been passed by the Australian Parliament making it mandatory for the refrigeration and air conditioning industry to recover, return and safely dispose of ozone depleting and synthetic greenhouse gas refrigerants.

The new Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989 http://www.deh.gov.au/atmosphere/ozone/legislation/index.html is national and overrides existing State and Territory requirements on ozone depleting refrigerants.

The new law means industry must handle HFCs, such as R134a and R404A, the same way it handles CFCs like R12 and HCFCs like R22.

There are new obligations for industry under the law:

• technicians need an Australia-wide competency-based licence to operate
  
  
• companies buying or selling refrigerants must be authorised
  
  
• recovery of ozone depleting and synthetic greenhouse gas refrigerants is compulsory
  
  
• avoidable venting of fluorocarbon refrigerants into the atmosphere is an offence
  
  
• sellers of ozone depleting and synthetic greenhouse gas refrigerants have to take them back
  
  
• importers of ozone depleting and synthetic greenhouse gas refrigerants either as bulk or contained in equipment ,must have an importers licence.
  

Industry members do not have to cover all the costs of recovery. Costs incurred recovering refrigerant from systems may be legitimately charged to customers, and RRA provides rebate for the return of recovered refrigerant by authorised companies and persons.