replacing HFCs with natural refrigerants worldwide today

As of July 1, 2010, it will be an offense in Australia to import most air conditioning equipment pre- charged with HCFC refrigerant.

 

Unless the equipment has a special exemption, the import of any HCFC pre - charged air conditioning equipment after July 1, 2010 will constitute a breach of import licensing conditions under the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1995 and may lead to license suspension or cancellation and/or prosecution.

 

All pre-charged equipment licenses issued for the 2010 -2011 licensing round will be subject to a condition that makes it an offense to import air conditioning equipment pre-charged with HCFC after July 1, 2010, unless the equipment is a chiller charged with HCFC123; is a replacement part for existing HCFC equipment – this does not include a complete or substantially complete, indoor or outdoor unit of a split system air conditioner, or comprises high static ducted split system components.

 

The offense does not extend to refrigeration equipment.

 

Many other countries have restricted, or are in the process of restricting, the import of HCFC pre-charged equipment. These include Indonesia, the EU and the United States.

 

Current pre - charged equipment licenses expire on December 31, 2009. Those who want to import pre-charged equipment during the 2010-2011 period will need to apply for a license through the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

 

This does not remove the need to obtain a pre-charged license for importing HCFC pre-charged equipment between January 1, 2010 and June 30, 2010.